


Grudges Turn to Tears

by Awokenintime



Category: Transformers - All Media Types
Genre: Abuse, F/M, Mental Abuse, Original Universe, Post-Apocalyptic, THE HUMAN ACTUALLY IS USEFUL??, Wow, ace robots, ba dum tss, badass babysitter, blitzwing has more than meets the eye, cons take over the world, human pairing, like they actually should try, megatron has had enough of starscreams bs, not based on any previous generation, not even sorry, pretty serious cursing
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-02-26
Updated: 2016-05-18
Packaged: 2018-05-23 08:35:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 12
Words: 45,718
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6111003
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Awokenintime/pseuds/Awokenintime
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The Decepticons have taken over. Earth is controlled by the warmongering mechs desiring nothing more than to destroy their ancient rivals for good, using human frailty against the Autobot's. But are the Decepticon ranks breaking? Has the ancient war finally taken its toll on the Vicious conquerors? </p>
<p>Just what is making the Decepticons turn? And will a single human woman be enough to finally snap that weak link holding the scores of unhappy Decepticons in check? Or will the Autobots' sparks finally be extinguished, allowing Megatron to rust in peace?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Invasion

Chapter one: Invasion

The apartment was quiet and dark. Nighttime had long since fallen, leaving Bobbie alone in the dark. It was peaceful, at the time. Nothing was wrong as she flipped through the channels idly, waiting for the call from her mother that she was running late. Again. Work did that sometimes, and Bobbie had had to pull all-nighters for her ward increasingly often. She didn’t mind too much, the apartment was a lot nicer than her own, which she had trouble managing most of the time. Her three jobs and the time they all consumed made sure she was barely even there. She sighed as she rubbed her eyes and turned on the news, if just to see how the weather would be tomorrow.

  
“-We don’t know what it is! It just fell out of the sky and landed here and we have no clue who was driving it or anything!” The man was gesturing wildly to a fighter plane, massive and terrifying as it sat peacefully in the middle of a now damaged parking lot. No one seemed too alarmed, except for the flailing man who was still exclaiming about the plane and how he’d have to pay for the insurance. Alexis sniffed and adjusted in her seat, laying her head on her hand as the reporter relayed how the plane had seemingly just decided to land, how no one was inside it. No governments had claimed it yet, and there were no stories about remote fighter planes anywhere, so it was all very confusing and blah, blah, blah.

  
Bobbie was about to turn the channel when she realized that it was the parking lot way over in Brooklynn… almost thirty minutes from her own apartment, and forty five minutes (in good traffic) from her current ward’s building. She frowned, a coldness starting in her hands, making her rub them against her pants. No, she didn’t want to go home after that… but she also didn’t want to stay here. Fighter jets falling out of the sky was just a bad, bad sign.

  
Especially so close to home.

  
Bobbie stood up and rummaged through the refrigerator before she found a gingerale and opened it as she turned back to the tv, her eyes glued to it as they moved on from the plane to other things like the latest murder and celebrity suicide. Bobbie didn’t care. She didn’t give a damn, actually. Just go back to the fighter jet that landed in her backyard. Thirty minutes away wasn’t that far in New York City and if that thing decided to fire-

  
She jerked as a thunderous boom echoed though the apartment and shook everything in it. It was over in a second, only to be followed by another. The news abruptly changed to a frenzied reporter screaming gibberish as she and her camera man ran. It was chaos on the other end and Bobbie ran over to the screen, shaking. “Oh god…”  
The camera was shaking horribly, but she could see a hulking shadow standing where the wrecked plane had been, flames circling around the monster hellishly. Bobbie couldn’t make out the shape, but she could definitely see that it was big and it had weapons and was using them.

  
She felt the vibrations hit, her feet glued to the spot as she listened. She heard a small noise and looked up to see her ward, Renee, coming out of her room and yawning as she rubbed her eyes. “Bobbie?” she asked. “What’s going-“

  
Bobbie picked her up and rushed her into her room. “It’s alright, babe. There’s a fire down the street, so we gotta get going, just in case it spreads.” She smiled down at her, hiding her own nerves as she tried to keep the child calm. “Let’s pack up some clothes, maybe a toy or a book?”

  
Another shock hit the building and Renee screeched, terrified, now. “That was an explosion, Bobbie!”

  
Bobbie looked back and realized that there was fire outside the building. She cursed under her breath and rushed to the girl’s dresser and began to stuff clothing into it. “Babe, I need you to call your mom and see if she can come pick you up, ok?” She tossed her phone to her before continuing to put her clothes into the bag, her mouth set in a grim line.

  
“Bobbie, it’s not working!”

  
She zipped up the bag and walked over, checking out her phone. “No Service?” she muttered, glaring at it. “Stupid freaking… ok, babe, stay close. We’ll find reception.”  
They left the apartment, joining a mass of people running for their lives down the stairs, some screaming, some crying. Bobbie stayed calm, her blue eyes radiating with intensity as the lights went out. “B-Bobbie?”

  
The woman picked up the little girl and ran for the stairs, passing by a number of people massed around the elevators, and rushed past plenty of the smarter people down the steps. Bobbie’s mind raced as she considered a thousand different places to go, to hide. Underground might be a deathtrap, but it was a hell of a lot safer than on the streets. The streets themselves would be safer, in the way that it was out in the open, but whatever that thing on the TV was, it wasn’t good.

  
“Where are we going?”

  
Bobbie lifted her phone, checking again for signal. There wasn’t any. At all.

  
“… We’re going to hide. I can’t call your mom and we can’t wait. Hopefully we’ll be able to find a place to stop and maybe there we’ll find your mom. But until then, we have to hide.”

  
She felt Renee hold onto her tighter, and shake, but she didn’t say anything or stop to comfort her. When they were safe, then she’d tell her everything was alright. Right now, she needed to focus on reaching that goal.

  
They made it to the lobby, and Bobbie avoided the mob of people at the front by slipping out the back and making her way to the emergency exit. Going into the main street would eventually be suicide, especially if she was going to be following the masses. Bigger groups meant more danger. She maneuvered through the alleys as the ground shook, people screamed, and a loud, raspy laughter echoed through the city.

  
“HAH! Such puny, insignificant little creatures! Why we didn’t attack like this from the beginning will forever mystify me!” Bobbie didn’t like the sound of this voice. It sounded like evil incarnate, vicious and sadistic. She paused just at the corner of a street and caught her breath as the voice went on, “So many of you, it’s almost like… oh how do you all say it? Squashing ants?”

  
Another boom sounded through the city and a thousand voices went into hysterics as the voice laughed uproariously. “Hahahaha! How delicious!”

  
Something hit metal and the voice cursed in a strange, glitchy language.

  
“Starscream: murdering without proper cause. No objective in actions. Unfocussed.” This voice was a thousand times more chilling. Cold, metallic, and sounding like it had been put through a thousand different vocal synthesizers. Bobbie took the chance and peered around the corner, and froze.

  
They were massive, metal things. Robots, her mind assisted, but she couldn’t begin to accept it. Sure, she’d seen plenty of kaiju movies and animes that had their fair share of giant robots, but these where entirely different. She pulled Renee closer into her arms and shivered before peering around the now arguing two figures. One, who had been addressed as Starscream, looked like it had some sort of jetpack. Its paint was red and grey. It had a vaguely human face and its eyes were crimson. Even in the eerie, burning light, they were stark contrasts in the gloomy night. “Soundwave, I am second in command, whether you like it or not! You don’t tell me what to do!”

  
The other one, Soundwave, was blue, and was even less human than the other. He had no face, so to speak, just some sort of mask and red visor, which were dull in comparison to his angry companion. He stood stiffly, and without any sort of emotion within his voice, he responded, “Megatron: Supreme Leader. Starscream: Second in Command. Megatron’s Orders: take the cities. Kill in response to resistance. Humans are not resisting. You are disobeying orders.”

  
Starscream glared, his eyes burning even brighter as the other stood his ground, unmoving and unphased. Finally, he turned away with a harrumph and continued to stomp, his footfalls the apparent cause of the tremors. Soundwave continued on in another direction, apparently convinced that his superior would follow the rules.

  
Bobbie ducked down when Starscream passed her alleyway, hiding behind a dumpster as she struggled to calm her nerves. She couldn’t understand what was happening. Take the city. Puny creatures.

  
It almost sounded like an alien invasion, but… they’re just robots! She peered around the corner again and saw the giant herding a mass of people into the main roads, not enjoying himself nearly as much as before. Apparently, despite his lower rank, Soundwave one held some sort of sway on Starscream that he wasn’t too fond of.

  
Bobbie looked down the street a little and saw the subway station… far past the giant. Wait too long and Soundwave, or some other one, could come and pluck her up and throw her and Renee with the herd. She could only assume what they wanted with them, but none of the ideas were pleasant to think about. She needed to get to the subways. Looking around, for any ideas, she looked down at the ground and spotted a manhole.

  
“Close enough,” she muttered, crawling over to it. “Ok, Renee, we’re going to hide down here and try to get to the subway, ok?”  
Renee made a small face, but looked up at the robot with a worried expression. “Is… can they find us down there?”  
Bobbie frowned. “I don’t think so, babe. I hope not.”  
Renee, assured as much as she would be, nodded and helped Bobbie to pull off the grate. “It smells,” she stated, wrinkling her nose.  
Bobbie pulled out her beanie and handed it to her. “Cover your mouth with this when we get down, and breathe through it. It should help. Now, climb down. I’m right behind you.”  
Renee took her time, obviously bothered by the rotten smell, and Bobbie couldn’t blame her. When they reached the bottom, they walked along the edge, keeping far from the excuse for ‘water’ and walked down the tunnel. Bobbie could only hope they were going in the right direction, but the sounds of massive footfalls were growing quieter and quieter. Bobbie could only hope that it was because the giant’s steps were so big, and not because they were going the wrong way.

  
They walked for what Bobbie could only guess as being around the same area as the subway entrance and she turned to the girl and smiled weakly. “Alright, babe. Stay here, ok? I’ll go up and see what’s going on, alright?”

  
Renee nodded and bit her lip. “Be careful, Bobbie.”

  
Bobbie smiled mischievously at her and touched her nose. “I got a few tricks up my sleeve.”

  
Renee knew that look and nodded, smiling a little. “Ok!”

  
Bobbie turned away, the mischievousness dying a little. Yeah, she had a few tricks, but those tricks were for humans… they didn’t always work with people who were five stories above her, let alone giant robots!

  
She took a deep breath as she sat under the grate and slowly pushed it up and peeked out.

  
She was in the right place… just at the opposite end of the street. Renee and she would be exposed for a considerable amount of time. She peered around and found that there wasn’t anyone around. The streets were deserted, cars left unattended, and shops dark. The only light was from the fires, burning at random points around the city. Bobbie bit her lip as she considered whether or not it was a good idea to make for it. Being captured could lead to literally anything. She didn’t want to be taken in, no matter if they weren’t supposed to be killed

  
Obviously Starscream wanted to hurt people and the other one didn’t care, so long as orders were followed. Both options seemed too scary to think on for too long.  
“Bobbie.”

  
The hoarse whisper echoed around her and she closed the grate and peered down. “What?”

  
“Is it safe?”

  
The little voice pulled a string inside of Bobbie and she softened. She needed to get her to safety and this hole was almost just as dangerous as topside. Stay down here and get all manner of diseases, or go up and possibly get caught?

  
Bobbie smiled. “Yeah, it is. Climb on up.”

  
The little girl joined Bobbie at the top, where her babysitter adjusted her so she was on her back and she lifted the grate again. The street was just as abandoned as it had been before. “Alright. Help me push this off- there we go.” She pulled them both out and ran over to the entrance, keeping an eye out for the monsters, before she ducked down into the dark hole.

  
It was just as abandoned as the streets. Pitch black enveloped the whole place. How did everyone not have the idea to come down here and hide? Had it been the blackout? Bobbie frowned, suddenly uncertain. Maybe this wasn’t the safest place to be…

  
A scuffling sound echoed up ahead and Bobbie hopped into a dark hollow, keeping Renee further in the dark than her. She put her finger over her mouth as hollow metallic clanking filled the air and Bobbie held her breath.

  
“Bro, I can’t fraggin’ believe that we’re actually walking around without any sorta repercussion! I wonder how many tvs we can steal!”

  
“Tvs, bro, that ain’t even the best of what we could scavenge. Ever hear of those little… uh… oh, frag, I can’t remember what they’re called.”

  
“Electronic scooters?”

  
_Clank!_

  
“No, is your processor shorted out? Remember those videogames we caught those humans playing the other day?”

  
“Oh yeah! Oh boy, those’ll be so much fraggin’ fun!”

  
“And you thought we’d get some stupid scooter.”

  
Bobbie held her breath as the two continued to talk about their wishlist and her heart stopped when she saw the two of them.

  
They were smaller, but they were obviously related in some way to the big robots outside. They were both just a little above human size and had the same build, but entirely different temperaments. They walked out, heading back up to the top and Bobbie knew why the subways were so empty. They’d been thoroughly combed through.

  
_"Achoo!"_  
Bobbie froze at the sound of the sneeze behind her, and the two robots turned around, raising weapons. “Hey! I thought we got this place!” the red one said nervously.

  
“Musta missed one,” the other one said with a snarl. “Alright, Human! Come on out! We’re not gonna hurt ya! Much.”

  
“But, bro! Soundwave said we’d just have to bring em in, though!”

  
“No one’s gonna know if we scuff up the troublemakers a little, Frenzy! They’ll be the ones to grind someone’s gears quicker, anyways!”

  
“I don’t want to get yelled at again!”

  
They argued for a few moments and Bobbie racked her brain for any ideas, or escape routes or- A weapon. She stared at the ‘in case of fire’ sign and bit her lip, her brow furrowing as she decided whether or not it was a good idea… “Screw this,” she muttered, dropping Renee and running into the hall. The two bots cried out in alarm at her sudden appearance and started to shoot.

  
She dodged them, rolling on the ground as she jumped up and smashed the glass, tearing out the axe and throwing it on the ground. She snatched at the fire extinguisher as something connected with her head.

  
“Don’t move, fleshie, and I won’t offline you.”

  
Bobbie’s expression changed and she smirked as she slowly turned around and looked into the red visor. “I moved.”

  
“Do you want me to kill you?” he demanded.

  
Bobbie stood up, the gun staying connected to her forehead as she stared him down, blue eyes boring into him as he started to look uncertain. “Do you want me to?” she asked.  
That made him laugh and pull back the weapon a few inches. It was just enough. Bobbie bashed the can into his face and it exploded, filling the room with foam and enough cover that Bobbie slipped from under them, grabbing the axe as she raced back to Renee and scooped her up. She bolted into the pitch black and away from the foreign curses.  
She didn’t stop running, not until she made it to a platform and looked over it, wondering if the feared third rail was still online. It didn’t matter, though. She needed to get down there. “Stay away from the third rail, got it?” she asked as she lowered Renee down.

  
“Ok. Are you-“

  
Curses sounded from where they’d come from and Bobbie jumped down, picking her up again and bolting into the tunnel, hoping nothing was working. When she was far enough into the darkness that she felt safe, she stopped and curled up with Renee in a corner and covered Renee’s mouth, just in case she sneezed again.

  
“I’ll kill it!”

  
“Bro, we-“

  
“I don’t care! I’m gonna-“

  
There was silence as both of them seemed to think. The silence lasted a lifetime, and Bobbie was half ready to run at them with the axe, life or death, and just get it over with.  
“Frag. Perfect timing, boss.”

  
“One human and a runt isn’t going to do much,” one of them muttered. “Besides, if they get out of the city, the patrols will find them eventually.”

  
“Yeah…” there was another silence before footfalls echoed, leaving Renee and Bobbie alone.

  
They waited until Bobbie was sure they were gone, and then she sighed, breathing heavily in relief. “I thought they’d never leave.”  
Renee nodded. “I thought they were going to kill us!”

  
Bobbie kept her correction to herself. She was certain they’d have killed her if they’d had the chance, but Renee? What would her fate have been?

  
She looked down at the child and kissed her forehead. “We’ll be alright, babe. I promise.”

  
Renee nodded. “… I hope mommy’s alright.”

  
Bobbie looked up at the black ceiling. “Me, too, baby. Me too.”

 

 

When they finally emerged from the tunnel, they were at the far edge of the city, and it was twilight. They’d been in for a day and they were both starving, both cold, and both in need of a good night’s sleep. But Bobbie picked up the little girl and carried on, letting the child fall asleep in her arms as she went.

  
She hadn’t planned on her week going like this. If she had, she’d have gone home to pick up a few things… a better weapon than an axe, for one thing. Not to mention clothes. Autumn was just beginning, and pretty soon sweaters and jeans just wouldn’t cut it. She looked down at Renee and smiled at the peaceful face. At least she’d be alright for another month, at least. Bobbie adjusted her in her arms as she looked around. It was a small strip mall, but there wasn’t much there that was worth anything…

  
Except for a mattress building.

  
Bobbie smiled brightly as she rushed over.

  
They’d be safe here, she convinced herself. Safe for a night, and able to sleep comfortably on a mattress. She kissed Renee’s forehead as she stirred and smiled. “Go on back to sleep, babe. I’ll take care of you.”

  
She’d been doing that very thing for almost three years, and she’d continue for another ten if she had to.

 

 

Rumble and Frenzy stood under their master’s gaze and shifted uncomfortably. “Damage report,” he ordered.

  
Frenzy glanced at his spark brother’s face and held in a snigger. One hit and the human had dented in half his helmet. Even his optic was a bit screwy. One recharge in Soundwave’s chassis would have them both up and running at full speed on the next solar cycle, but until then Rumble was stuck looking like he’d gotten kicked in the face again. And this time, it wasn’t by Starscream.

  
“Human…” Rumble muttered.

  
“Damage: human caused?”

  
Rumble nodded.

  
“Weapons report.”

  
Frenzy snickered, then and covered his mouth as he received a swift punch in his shoulder. “Shut up, Frenzy!”

  
“Rumble, report.”

  
Rumble seethed for a moment before folding his arms and avoiding eye contact with his master. “One of those fire hazard things. It hit me and ran as it exploded.”

  
Soundwave looked over the both of them silently, coldly, before he opened up his chassie and let them hop inside. As they connected, their memories passed into his processor and he focused on the human. A fullgrown female and a smaller female.

  
The smile caught his attention and he scanned it, over and over and over again. It was familiar. Confident, angry, daring… Powerful.

  
Soundwave tucked in the human’s face into his data stores and discarded the rest, allowing his minibots their limited privacy.

  
This human could prove to be more dangerous than any other Decepticon would admit. He’d have to keep an eye out for her himself. Rumble and Frenzy were considered nothing more than the human equivalent of children, but they were still warriors. A mere human wouldn’t have been able to hurt him so thoroughly with just a fire extinguisher.  
The human was different, unlike so few he’d encountered. But different could also prove to be useful to Megatron’s cause…  
Either way, dead or alive, this human would need to be captured sooner, rather than later.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WHOOO FIRST TF FANFICITON PUBLISHED! Tbqh, I'm very proud of this peice even though it might never be that popular (no robot smut or slash)


	2. Chapter Two: Desperation and Power

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another chapter, another day. Gotta get used to using this formatting with Soundwave's speech, lol. It's harder than I thought it'd be!

Chapter Two:Desperation and Power

 

It’d been a week. Or something. Bobbie had lost count after the fifth day, but she could be sure there had been at least two days in between. Her phone had lost charge and there wasn’t any sort of calendar to help her remember what day of the week it was. Not that it mattered anymore.

Renee and her had travelled over at least half of New York, and they were yet to see proper civilization. They’d run into a few refugees, people who’d wanted answers or information on friends and family. Bobbie and Renee could only shrug, wish them luck, and move on. Bobbie did her best not to feel responsible for the expression of loss and hopelessness in each of their eyes, but it felt cruel to keep their hopes up over nothing.

After all, those robots could have done anything with the people they’d herded up. The small ones had said they weren’t supposed to be harmed, but weren’t hostages treated like that? Prisoners of war? Slaves? She tried not to dwell too long on that thought, especially when she thought of Renee’s mother.

Mrs. Green was strong, most definitely. She worked as an attorney in the Court of Justice, or whatever they were calling it, and damn good at her job. Being a woman, and black, she was often discarded or ignored, but she’d risen up and yelled twice as loud, demanded twice as fervently, and won case after case. Bobbie liked her a lot and had about fifty on her and any other lawyer dumb enough to stand up to her.

But against a giant robot with guns the size of a school bus? Bobbie couldn’t quite offer the same amount of money. Bobbie wouldn’t even put herself up against one. She’d gotten lucky with the smaller ones. If that fire extinguisher hadn’t been there… she swallows back fear. No, she wouldn’t let herself think about that.

Instead, she looked over at the resting Renee. The little girl was sleeping soundly, but Bobbie stared at the dirt, the grime, and the Hellenistic sense of dread hanging over the shack. Sure, Renee was comfortably asleep, swaddled in four blankets, but it was getting colder. Bobbie felt that fires risked too much, and extra blankets for two were too heavy to carry on their own. She sighed as she rubbed the pocket warmers stuffed in her gloves, the little bags the only things protecting her fingers from frostbite. It had begun snowing the day before. Nothing heavy, but it was constant. They’d be up to their ankles in it within another day and that didn’t bode well for Renee.

Pretty soon they’d make it into nowhere territory, which was worse than somewhere in some aspects. Bobbie knew that ‘somewhere’ was where the robots were patrolling. She’d seen a few but hadn’t gotten close to even hear anything they said. But ‘nowhere’ was where animals, starvation, and frostbite hid. Bobbie frowned at that prospect. Slink around a few more towns, or go primeval? She wasn’t sure how to do the latter and the former was just too risky.

Bobbie leaned her head against the shack and sighed as she closed her eyes. “God help me…”

 

 

It was late in the morning when Bobbie heard the noise. She jumped to her feet, alert and ready as the crunching of snow beneath boots sounded outside the cabin. Bobbie silently slipped over to the door, which had been locked and barricaded shut, and listened outside.

She heard muffled grumbling, a quiet curse, and a small tap as something was rested on the shack door. She pulled away as the person on the other side politely knocked. “Anyone home?” the stranger asked. He sounded male, with an aged rasp, but honest enough. There was no threat in his tone.

Bobbie’s eyes narrowed, unconvinced of his innocence, as she remained silent and prayed he stayed polite enough to keep Renee asleep. He asked a few more times, jiggled the handle, and sighed before the crunching echoed away. “Dammit, the first shelter in two days and it’s locked and abandoned… why am I even surprised?”

Bobbie went to the window and pulled back the blinds just enough to peer out at the intruder. He was small, probably shorted than Bobbie… and had a gut. She hadn’t seen a robot quite like that, yet, but she still wasn’t willing to-

He pulled off his hat and wiped it across his forehead, revealing grey hair and an old, wrinkled, and stubbled face filled with years of experience and exhaustion. He was wearing proper winter clothing (he’d apparently had more preparation than Bobbie or Renee) and he was even carrying some sort of hunting rifle. He pulled out a box of cigarettes and began to fumble with them.

Bobbie narrowed her eyes as she slipped back over to the door. Silently, she pulled it open and crept out, making sure to take slow, delicate steps into his footprints. He remained unaware of her as she got closer, silently creeping until she was finally behind him. She lifted her hand and paused, her eyes narrowing a little…

And she tapped his shoulder. “Hey.”

The man jumped, grabbing his rifle in a purely defensive manner and he locked eyes with her, tense. He immediately relaxed when he got a good look and smiled in a tiredly relieved sort of way. “Whoa- hah! Kid, don’t startle a man with a gun like that…”

Bobbie just raised one of her eyebrows, unimpressed, and sniffed. “Right. Ok, so what do you want?” she pointed behind her. “My shack. I found it first.”

The man’s smile faltered and he frowned a bit. “Hold on a sec, it’s not yours. It’s a hunting lodge. It… technically doesn’t belong to anyone.”

“Yeah, well it’s hard times old man.” Bobbie rolled her eyes as if she was explaining three year old news to him. “Haven’t you heard?”

He looked at her a moment, as if taking in her expression and meaning, before he snorted, a sneer curling his lips. “What, the giant robots?” He scoffed. “Please. This is just a… enemy attack.” He motioned his hand in front of him as if he were sweeping players off a chessboard. “Take out the target’s communications and electricity and they’re lost!”

Bobbie’s expression didn’t change. “I know it’s hard to believe. Trust me, when I first saw them I didn’t believe either, but they’re real and they’re murderous, and they tried to kill me.” She folded her arms. “I just barely managed to get out of New York.”

The man looked at her again, sizing her up and Bobbie couldn’t help but feel as if she was no longer the senior authority within the vicinity. After another moment, his face fell and he rubbed his eyes tiredly. “Damn… So there really are no communications at all?”

“None.”

He sighed, sorrow seeping into his aged face and he leaned on his rifle like a walking stick. “… You came all the way from New York?”

“Yeah. Been through all sorts of towns and there was nothing.”

His eyes closed in weariness and he nodded. “All the way through New York and nothing… Thank you… I would have spent more energy looking for my wife like that.” He leaned against a tree and looked up at the sky, his face looking wise and old in the dim morning light. “Are you heading anywhere specific?”

Bobbie frowned. “Not right now… I have a little girl with me and I’m trying to keep her safe. I couldn’t call her mom and we’ve been running from the Robots ever since.”

He nodded, pushing off the tree and watching the forest suspiciously. “… I guess I should just start heading back home-”

“I doubt home is safe anymore,” Bobbie offered. “We just came from a really small town, no more than what would have been a thousand people when it was actually inhabited. They were patrolling the place. I don’t know if they were looking for someone, or whatever. But they were there and no one else was. Populated areas aren’t safe anymore.”

He nodded and rubbed his stubbled chin as gears began to turn in the old wrinkled head. “Assuming I believed you… what would you suggest?”

Bobbie stared at him. He believed her. She knew that much. Why he was trying to over for himself, she didn’t know. Then again, he hadn’t made any moves to hurt her, so she shrugged. “I don’t know. I can’t make it in the middle of nowhere. I don’t know how to hunt and gather, let alone make a fire that doesn’t attract attention. I’m barely keeping my girl safe as it is and I’m running out of food. At this point, I’m beginning to consider turning myself over to the bastards and giving up.”

“Don’t do that,” he said harshly, his old eyes flaring to life. “Kid, don’t you dare do that. Yeah, it’s hard, but don’t do that of all things… here.” He picked up his rifle, looking ten years younger, and he held it out for her to look at. “This isn’t for looks and this isn’t to use on passerbys I find in the woods.”

Bobbie raised a brow, her interest peaked. “So you’re a hunter?”

“Yeah. I was actually on a hunting trip in Maine when the power went out. Family’s way down in DC.”

Bobbie nodded, but continued to keep a straight face as she looked down her nose at him, feigning suspicion. “You offering to help or just escort us a certain ways?”

He smiled a little. “Kid, I got a hunting lodge, well, more like a cabin, up in Canada, just beyond the border. It’s about two weeks march from here, plus a little hike halfway up a mountain. It’s got a generator and a radio. We can call for help there.”

Bobbie raised her brow at him and she narrowed her eyes. “That’s a lot to offer me and a little girl without having anything in return, old man.”

His smile turned gentle. “I have two daughters and two granddaughters. A sixteen year old and a ten year old. They both mean the world to me. I want to get home and see them safe and I could bet my life that you want to see your girl get home, too.”

Bobbie couldn’t argue with that, but there were a thousand different things about him that didn’t seem to be adding up. What, she couldn’t place, but it bothered her. Still, whatever it was didn’t seem to be anything dangerous and no warning bells were sounding. So, after a few more thoughts, she nodded, relenting. “Yeah, you’re right.” She shrugs, pulling out a pistol from her pocket and handing it to him. “Here. Borrowed this just in case you caused trouble. You seem to be ok, though.”

He blinked at the pistol in his hand before he burst out laughing. “Wow, that’s impressive. You managed to get that with no trouble at all!”

Bobbie smirked and was about to brag when something creaked. “Bobbie?”

The hunter and her both turned to the door and Renee looked at Bobbie tiredly, and confused. “Who’s he?” she asked, pointing at the hunter.

Bobbie froze. She hadn’t asked his name. Well, it wasn’t important until now! “Uh-”

“My name’s Ted,” he said with a smile. “Me and Bobbie just got acquainted with each other. I think I can help you two to get home.”

Renee’s eyes widened and a big smile spread across her face as she ran up to him and started to chat excitedly. Ted told the girl all about the radio and the cabin with electricity.

Bobbie looked away solemnly, her eyes filled with uncertainty as she looked around. It wasn’t as bleak as it could be, but she was still worried. There were so many things that could go wrong on their way up to Canada… and something in her stomach told her that she wasn’t going to make it to the cabin. She glanced at Renee, who seemed to take an immediate liking to the old man, and sighed a bit.

At least Renee had two adults taking care of her now and one had a better sense of socialization than Bobbie. One positive out of a thousand uncertainties.

“Good enough for me.” She muttered.

“What was that?” Ted asked innocently.

“We’ll need to head somewhere and get better winter clothes. I haven’t managed to get anything recently because I’d put Renee at risk… with you, though…”

“I can help watch, or you can send me in to fetch the things.”

“Right.”

“Or, I can give you my spares and we have one less girl to worry about?”

Bobbie paused and looked at him. “I doubt you got size 8 feet in women’s man.”

“Well, no. But the clothing should fit.”

Bobbie couldn’t help but let a small, amused smile slip out as he led them into the cabin and began to offer clothes to Bobbie as if it were an auction. Somehow, the simple appraising of clothing good and bad felt more natural and safe than her own home back in New York felt.

Damn. She was getting attached to a complete stranger.

Her old therapist would have been proud.

 

 

_Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap._

Soundwave’s tapping echoed through his chamber as he waited for the patrol report. He was considerably more patient than Megatron, and infinitely more so than Starscream, but even then his patience could be tested. Frenzy and Rumble were busy elsewhere in the base, and Ravage was with one of the other scouting teams… which left him with the hollow company of Lazerbeak. He looked down at the minibot and scratched beneath its chin, earning a small chirp from it.

Perhaps hollow was too crude a term. Less entertaining than his other minibots, yes, but not hollow.

“Bonecrusher reporting, Sir!”

Soundwave looked up at the mech and adjusted in his seat, unimpressed and bored already. “Proceed.”

Bonecrusher droned on, reporting his unimpressive claim of ten more people, none of them matching the description of the girl he’d put a reward out for. He’d never stoop so low as to hire a bounty hunter, nor did it concern him overmuch, but he found that if his mechs were given incentive, they would offer better results.

So far, they’d grabbed more humans, but not the one he wanted. Either she was stealthier than he’d anticipated, or she was dead. He doubted the latter.

“Sir. Soundwave?”

He looked up at the officer coldly. “Proceed.”

“I uh… I got an issue.”

“Report.”

Bonecrusher shifted a little. “Well. That one officer that Megatron sent over last cycle is… well… he doesn’t follow orders easily. I’m his superior officer and he just sorta pushes me aside, you know?”

“Inquiry: Blitzwing.”

“Yeah. Him.”

“Blitzwing: triple changer. Prone to mental instability and slow decline in cognitive function. Multiple alt mode depletes processor stability because of the unnatural adjustments and modifications. Bonecrusher: superior officer but not stronger than Blitzwing.” Soundwave adjusted in his seat, his visor glowing against the darkness. “Inquiry: suggestions to solve conflict.”

Bonecrusher shifted. “Uh… I mean, couldn’t you just tell him to listen to me?”

Soundwave wasn’t impressed in the least. “No.”

Bonecrusher frowned, but made no more moves to argue.

Soundwave waited for any other suggestions before he stood up. “Blitzwing: reassignment imminent. Bonecrusher: return to former team and rank.”

“WHAT?”

Soundwave’s cold glare burned into Bonecrusher, freezing him to his spark. “Bonecrusher: unable to solve conflicts within his own team. Unable to command. Unworthy of rank. Return to former station until able to prove his worth.”

Bonecrusher slumped and grumbled a bit, but nodded.

“Dismissed.”

Soundwave was returned to silence and isolation and he let out a harsh sigh. He walked over to Lazerbeak and continued to rub under his beak. “Primus help me.”

_“Soundwave.”_

The comm-link interrupted his peace of mind and he resisted from groaning out loud.

“Scavenger: report.”

_“It seems that our newest recruit is having uh… bit of trouble following orders.”_

Soundwave’s fist curled up and he left his chamber with a threatening air in his step. “Inquiry: orders he has defied.”

_“Well. A lot. Insulted a superior officer, punched three of them, threw another one, and then proceeded to sing in one of the human’s national anthems. Me and a few others are trying to get him under control and cooperative, but I honestly don’t know what to do with him.”_

“Scavenger: Return to post. Soundwave: deal with him.”

_“Yes sir.”_

Soundwave marched through the halls before he burst into a room, covered in chaos from ceiling to floor. In that one second, it all froze in front of him and he had the perfect opportunity to take it all in. Three of his officers were in the midst of throwing various sized objects whilst another four were aiming their blasters at their aggressor, who was busy picking up two of. A nanocycle before, Soundwave could have sworn he’d heard bellowing.

Soundwave locked optics with the aggressor. “Blitzwing: Report.”

He snarled, baring his gaptooth, and shouted. “Zees idiots think they can push me around and tell me vhat to do!” His face whirred as it spun within his helmet and a calm blue face met Soundwave’s cold glare. “I vas just informing them of vhat vould happen if zhey ever tried it again.”

Soundwave refrained from firing his blaster at the processor rusted idiot and instead lowered his voice to a threatening pitch. “Blitzwing: Release your officers. Report with Soundwave to quarters.”

Blitzwing dropped the two cons in his grasp and stepped over them, obeying Soundwave silently. “Vhen I was vith Megatron I did not have to answer to fools like zees.”

“Soundwave: Unimpressed. Unconvinced. Blitzwing: Serves Megatron. Follows orders. Serves Soundwave and any mech Soundwave places Blitzwing under.”

“Not zhose-”

Soundwave whirled around in the hall, grabbing Blitzwing’s neck cables and dragged him down to his level and glared into the red optics. “Blitzwing: Follow command. Soldier. Not Megatron. Not leader. Cannot order superior officers. Demoted to ranks guard and scout.”

“Vhat?!”  Blitzwing’s red face demanded, and made a grab at Soundwave. The smaller blue mech was quicker and shoved two digits into a bundle of especially sensitive nodes at the base of his neck and Blitzwing collapsed, twitching and venting heavily as the pain wracked his sensors. Soundwave leaned down, close to his audial and lowered his voice to a threatening and personal level.

“Blitzwing: Follow orders. Complete tasks. Regains rank when proven worthy of it. Blitzwing: Nothing. Megatron’s soldier. Do as commanded or be deemed useless.”

Soudnwave waited until he got a reply, which came in a pained nod, and he pushed the bigger mech away, unimpressed. He stood over the whimpering triple changer, who almost twice the size of him, unscathed. Not even winded.

The few cons who had been in the hall had frozen and watched, their emotions mixes of horror and amusement at the big mech’s public humiliation, but also at Soundwave’s almost instantaneous success. This was why they feared and respected him, not because of his rank. Most of them knew Starscream would never have their respect like Soundwave had it.

Soundwave wasn’t quite finished, though, and he folded his arms behind his back. “Blitzwing: If deemed useless, will report to duty under Starscream.”

“Frag… no anything but zhat.”

“Soundwave: Unconcerned with personal conflicts. Follow orders or be transferred.”

The blue mech turned from the other and left him recovering on the floor. A part of his spark understood the pride coursing through Blitzwing’s Energon, pride having come from fighting at Megatron’s side for vorns, but it wasn’t enough to convince Soundwave of letting Blitzwing have his run of the place. The triple changer needed to learn where he stood in the grand scheme of things and it was not on top. The quicker he understood that simple fact, the quicker Soundwave could recharge knowing that Blitzwing wouldn’t destroy half of his compound in a protoformish fit of rage…. And when Blitzwing lost the rest of his processor, they’d have some sort of anchor of control over him.


	3. Chapter 3: Explosions

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm on a roll!! Sort of. Hopefully this chapter stands up to the previous chapters in terms of decency! XP Anyways, hope you guys like the new chapter!

Chapter 3: Explosions

 

Bobbie paused just at the edge of the town and blew a strand of her hair out of her face, impatience radiating off of her. “I swear, this town better have a hunting store or something or I’m going to riot and build the biggest fire.”

Ted snorted next to her and adjusted the sleeping child on his back. “And that won’t summon all the robots in the vicinity?”

Bobbie snorted and made a face. “I’ll kick all their asses with my eyes closed.”

Ted sniggered in return and shook his head. “Kid, you’re something else. It’s pretty impressive that you’d even consider doing such a stupid thing.”

Bobbie rolled her eyes as she adjusted her packs and tromped down to the buildings. “Whatever, old man. You stay out here and watch Renee, alright?”

“Sure thing, Bob.”

She bit back a sharp retort at the nickname and continued into town. It’d been three days since Ted had joined their pathetic little team. He’d added a sense of peace and safety and the whole fact that he acted like a parent made Renee cling to him a bit more. The little girl felt secure around him, more so than Bobbie. She didn’t mind it overmuch. She knew she had a hard time connecting with people, especially kids, but for them to be buddies in just a few short hours?

Sure, he’d given Bobbie an army green jacket, that she was pretty sure was actually military surplus, a cowl that she could easily pull over her mouth when the snow got bad, and other various sweaters and thermal gear that kept her toasty, even when the weather went bad. All he’d asked for in return was that she cook the canned foods, which she was happy to oblige after his first failed attempt.

But he was quickly becoming Renee’s favorite and Bobbie was getting jealous, no matter how hard she tried to deny it.

She grumbled to herself as she adjusted her packs. People were so complicated and social people could just hit it off in a second and get past all the awkward small talk so quickly! Bobbie had tried to talk with Ted, but all the subjects she pulled out had either made him shift uncomfortably, look sadly, or go off in an excited rant that completely flew over Bobbie’s head.

Then again, she had so few interests they couldn’t talk about her. “Read any books?” Not really. “Have any hobbies?” Not really. “Did you go to school?” Sort of.  Oh, but wanna talk about how I know how to pickpocket and hotwire cars and do other illegal stuff? No. No one wanted to hear about that. Especially a man Bobbie could bet  had once been in the army.

No, Bobbie knew she was the opposite of the ray of sunshine Renee needed and it made her angry and sad all at once. She glared at her hands in frustration. “You’re great at beating up people and even better at scaring the hell out of them. Why can’t you be nice?” She knew the answer, but she didn’t want to admit it to herself.

She turned down a road and immediately backtracked and hid behind a wall.

There was a car. Ok, there were a lot of cars, but most of them were covered in snow. This one wasn’t. Tire tracks were fresh, but it was uninhabited and there weren’t any tracks surrounding it. She glared at the vehicle, uncertain about its occupants. It was a cop car, and that scared Bobbie the most.

Cops who run from danger are usually corrupt, or at least spineless, and she’d run into enough of those to last her a lifetime.

Still… cops had lots of gear in their cars, right?

She slipped out from behind the building and swiftly made her way to the parked vehicle. She slipped around to the front and ran her fingers over the hood. “Still warm… So you’ve been used recently,” she muttered, looking around. “Where’s your driver?” She continued to peer around the place until she was content that no one would hop on her and shoot her, and she walked over to the driver’s door. She lifted her elbow to try and smash in the window, but her blow was just deflected and she screeched, gripping her funny bone as she groaned. “Dammit!”

“Not nice to hurt someone when he’s just minding his own business, is it?”

Bobbie jumped at the metallic voice and the blood rushed from her face. She looked around for the robot, but he wasn’t anywhere-

Clanks and thuds sounded behind her and she looked back to see the car changing, metallic pieces reworking themselves into different shapes until a massive face, filled with contempt and malice peered down at her, sharp teeth baring at her in a grin. “Still new to the vehicle mode, then? Well, let me inform you~.” It stood up, towering over her, but Bobbie didn’t need to be told twice not to stay where she was. She turned and ran, trying to put some distance between her and the monster, but every thirty paces of hers, all it needed was two to catch up. “You see, we’re a much more advanced species than you. No, we’re not man-made. Your pathetic and weak species would never be able to hold a candle to our might! Anyways, as superior beings, we are composed of inorganic compounds. But we have organs, just like you. And there’s the one specific one that’s just… so handy to have!” It mashed its foot in front of Bobby, locking her in the main road of the town as he leaned over her smugly. “The T-Cog. It allows us to switch between our bipedal forms and our vehicular forms! Quicker transportation from point a to point b.”

Bobbie panted as it lectured her, trying to find a way out of this. She didn’t want to be taken in, or to be killed, and this monster was obviously having a grand old time scaring her senseless. But senseless was exactly the opposite of what she needed to be. She needed to calm down, find a center point of focus and turn this whole situation around…

Bobbie’s mouth curled into delight as she spotted her way out and she stopped just before she reached it, as if she had been cornered. She turned around, feigning defeat, and looked up at him solemnly. “Really? Turning into a car… Huh. Show me again?”

It smirked and started the process all over… which allowed her with just enough time to slip straight into the grocery store. “Hah! Hiding in there won’t help you!” It transformed back into its robot mode and loomed over the building.

Inside, Bobbie ran through the stacks of goods, rotten groceries, canned foods, and other kitchen necessities, until she found what she was looking for. Aluminum foil. She pulled it off the shelf and began to fumble with her backpack. “C’mon. c’mon!” she mumbled.

Sudden pounding echoed on top of the building and Bobbie flinched at the singsong voice echoing through the store. “Little fleshbag~! Come on out! We have much to discuss!”

“Yeah, right,” she mumbled, pulling out a wad of clothing. She unwrapped it as fast as she could and glared at the contents within. “Alright, jerk. Let’s see how well you play with basic chemistry…”

She ripped off a piece of the aluminum and dropped it into the glass and bolted for the door. “Fine! I’m out! Stop tapping the damn building!”

The robot turned and bared its pointed teeth at her maliciously. “Heh. Your attitude should be worked on, slave.”

Bobbie frowned at it as she held the glass at her side, rubbing it to see if she could tell when the chemical reaction would start up. “See, there’s a difference between you and me.”

It smirked. “… What? Other than the obvious.?”

Bobbie could feel the glass heating up and she smirked in turn. “See… you’ve got a disadvantage we puny humans don’t.”

“Oh, do I know?”

“Yeah. You’re big. I’m small. And that means-” she shoved the glass into a crack in his armor and bolted, “I can sabotage you.”

It jumped a bit, surprised at the daring move, but it just stood up and yelled at her, demanding she come right back. She didn’t stop to look back, but she felt it take a few steps and she wondered if the reaction wouldn’t be big enough-

A screech reverberated off the street and in Bobbie’s skull and she flinched, horrified as she felt her ears pop, and she dropped to the ground, holding her head. “Damn you!” it roared as she felt the ground tremble as it fell. “I’ll kill you! I’ll fragging kill you!”

Bobbie struggled to her feet and continued to run. She could barely hear anything but a painful ringing in her ears. “Whatever,” she muttered as she continued to run, not even bothering to look back.

She’d learned that trick back in highschool, but not exactly in the classroom. She never thought it’d come in handy unless she was doing something illegal. Well… blowing up an evil robot’s leg with an acid bomb couldn’t really be labeled as anything but necessary in her case.

She heard something roar above her head and she ducked beneath an overhang to hide from the jet. There was no way it was anything but one of those things again, and she wasn’t going to wait around to see if it was friendlier. She waited for it to get out of sight to make her move to continue to the hiding spot… but the sound silenced all together. She waited for a while longer, concerned that it was just playing hide and seek, and after a moment, heard two voices instead of one.

“Vhat happened to you, Barricade?”

Bobbie flinched at the accent. It was like a Mel Brooks movie making fun of the Germans. Almost. It was just a little off, somehow.  Still, he sounded more level headed than the other one.

“Oh, shut up!”

“HAHAHAHAHEHEHHEEHE!” Bobbie didn’t like the sudden change in tone or pitch, but it sent shivers down her spine. Apparently she was wrong about him being ‘levelheaded.’ “Give a mech a blanket and he’ll be warm, but set him on fire and he’ll be hot for the rest of his life!” There, the robot erupted into manic laughter.

 “I said shut the frag up, Blitzwing! I don’t need any of your slag today! That damn human Soundwave’s looking for was just here and she… frag it, look at my leg!”

“It’s hard to miss, heehee!”

“Yeah, well, go look for her, dammit!”

“No,” the voice was back to sounding calm and Bobbie shivered at the sudden coldness of it. “I think I should take care of _you_. Your leg is getting vorse. Look, it’s eating away at your alloy.”

“Then bring her to me so I can squash her!”

“She’s probably run into a hole right now so-”

_Clank!_

“I said go fragging get her so I can kill her!”

“Did you just hit me, you vorthless pile of bolts?!”

Oh. That sounded more like the Governator. Huh. Why would a robot sound like an Austrian, much less Schwarzenegger?

“Yeah, I fragging hit you, you overgrown slagheap with an addled processor! Go fragging get her-”

_CLANK! THUD! CRASH!_

“Zhat is vhat you get vhen you order me around, Dirtkisser! Don’t ever try it again!”

There was a garbled response, but Bobbie decided not to stick around for the rest of the conversation. One bot, three different voices.

**_Nope._ **

She turned away and continued through the streets, careful to avoid any open areas until she reached the woods, and then she bolted.

As she rushed back to where her two companions were, her mind dragged her back to the Austrian bot. Why? Of all things? The other one basically implied they were… well, an entirely different species?

So… what were they, really?

“Bobbie!” She snapped out of her thoughts as she almost ran headlong into Ted and stopped, panting. “What happened?” he asked, rushing over to her.

“Two of them… they… can turn into… cars. Almost got caught. Hurt one.”

He paused. “Wait, you hurt one?”

“Yeah. Had a bottle of Hydrochloric acid I stole... er… borrowed, from a factory me and Renee hid out in… made it into an acid bomb. Got the job done.”

His eyebrows rose a little. She could help but feel as if he was questioning her decision to take something that volatile, but he smiled nonetheless, impressed. “Wow! Good job. That’s impressive. What about the other one?”

“I don’t know, don’t care. He had some serious issues and I have a feeling he’d be worse to face up against, to be completely honest!”

Ted nodded. “Alright, let’s just get going. The further we are from them, the safer we are.”

“I couldn’t agree more.”

 

 

They stopped much later in the day than they had before. It’d taken them a long time to feel comfortable going anywhere slower than a jog, and even after that, they couldn’t bring themselves to stop. These things were killers and Bobbie had managed to piss off her second one. The first one hadn’t worried her overmuch, but the second? Hoo boy, he was big and she wasn’t ready to go another round with him anytime soon.

They’d stopped well after nightfall. Renee had fallen asleep on Bobbie’s back before they’d even stopped, and finally Ted’s ‘old bones’ had complained enough that Bobbie had relented. They’d found a hollow in a hillside and camped there. Bobbie forbade there being a fire and Ted didn’t argue too much. Renee had just rolled over and fell asleep, too tired to even worry about a fire or her empty stomach.

Bobbie felt guilty about running the child so thin, but what else could they have done? Giant robots, so far as she’d seen, were all sadistic and bent on killing or playing with their prey.

Except for that one. Soundwave, she think he’d been called. Hadn’t the one she’d pissed off mentioned him? He said Soundwave had been looking for her. Why? Why her of all people? It’s not like they’d run into each other, let alone had the same encounter as the cop car from today. She sighed and rubbed her eyes. “What a mess.”

“What?”

Bobbie looked up at Ted and sighed, slumping in exhaustion. “All of this. One day it’s normal,. Nothing’s too bad except the stock market went down two points, the latest celebrity wardrobe malfunction was on international television, and I had to run three separate jobs to not starve in freaking New York!” She folded her arms and leaned against the cold wall, glaring at her boots. “I never signed up for running from robots, protecting kids, or using an acid bomb again.”

“Again? You’ve used it before?”

Bobbie looked at him from out of the corner of her eye and blew out a puff of steam. “Yeah. I wasn’t the most honest or well behaved kid.”

Ted eyed her a moment and raised a brow. “Care to talk about it?”

“I don’t care if I talk about it, I just wanna know if you actually give a shit.”

Ted smirked. “Kid, I’m not a cop. I’m not gonna arrest you for stupid things you did as an angsty teenager.”

Bobbie looked at him, her expression unchanged as her cold blue eyes bored holes into him. He seemed to think twice before his brow furrowed into concern. “You… It’s more complicated than just teen angst, isn’t it?”

Bobbie sighed and looked back out into the forest, her eyes scanning the horizon quietly. “Ok, yeah. It’s way more complicated. I was a gang member, a brat who just ran around, selling drugs, shooting up stores and people, and thinking I had a hold on the world.” She plopped her head into her palm and looked up at the moon tiredly. “I ran away from home so I could be one of the badass kids. Used an acid bomb to get back at a few kids who snitched and put them both in the hospital.” She closed her eyes, remembering the horror she’d felt when she’d heard. “Not the cool babysitter you thought I was, huh?” she asked, looking over at Ted.

Ted’s expression was inscrutable. He’d folded his hands in front of his mouth, but his eyes were just as guarded as that. Age and wisdom bored into her as she waited for a reply, sure he would condemn her for her past.

“Where was home?”

Bobbie started. That… wasn’t quite what she was expecting. “Uh… New Orleans, Louisiana. Got rid of the accent a few years back so people would leave me alone.”

“No, I meant… home. Where you ran away from.”

Bobbie was even more confused, but she just shifted a little. “I lived with my Grandmother. She was my mother’s mom, older and gentle. I think she came down from Virginia or something ‘cause she had that sweet southern drawl all mixed in with New Orleans… she liked floral prints and had some of the tackiest looking rooms because there would be six different patterns in each of them… but if you just focused on one, you’d see a really beautiful print. And that’s kind of what my grandmother did. Focus on one and admire it before moving on to another…”

Bobbie’s eyes softened as she thought back to home and of her grandmother’s old house, filled with memories and age. She missed the smell of Gumbo and alligator tail, and especially the fried pickles. She closed her eyes and held her head. “I wasn’t cut out to be a bad person, Ted. I wasn’t cut out to be anything outstanding, either.” She stewed in bittersweet memories before she felt her eyes burn at a painful realization. “I can’t protect Renee or help her feel safe like you can. I can’t even make her smile without doing something really stupid or referencing a show we’ve watched together a thousand times! This whole-- these…  I just… I feel _useless_ like this.”

Ted was silent, leaving Bobbie to her own thoughts. For a while, the only sound was the wind and Bobbie’s occasional sniff, but a rustle signaled Ted’s moving and Bobbie looked up to see him sit next to her. He grunted as he settled in, and then he wrapped his arm around her and guided her head to his shoulder. “Let me tell you something, Bobbie. The whole fact that you’re here means that you’re a pretty outstanding person. Do you know how many people would have abandoned Renee and fended for themselves? Do you know how many people would have lost their minds and gotten both themselves _and_ her captured or killed? Hell, I doubt anyone would have even bothered using a damn acid bomb on one of those things, especially when surrender would have been a sure way to survive.”

Bobbie felt her eyes burn and she started to rub more fervently. “Dammit, shut up, old man!”

“Heh. It’s alright if you wanna cry, kid.” Ted pushed back her hair and smiled at her, his old eyes kind and wise as she struggled to cope with her new place in life. “You’re doing great so far. Keep up the good work.”

Bobbie hadn’t heard that in years. No one had told her anything, not even a simple ‘Good job.’ She sobbed, burying her face in his neck as she cried, years of pent up frustration and anger left her. She cried for all the years she spent struggling with the bills, all the years she spent trying to prove to strangers that she was worth something. She’d had no friends back in New York, just mountains of acquaintances who would pop into her life and then leave it. No one had cared for so long. And here she was, sobbing into a man’s shoulder she’d only known for a few days.

“D-don’t th-think this m-makes you my f-f-father figure!” she hiccupped.

Ted only chuckled into her hair and continued to pet it. “Wouldn’t dream of it.”

 

 

Blitzwing sat outside of Knockout’s medical quarters, waiting for his partner to be released. His face was stuck on Icy, his more controlled personality, and he tapped his folded arms impatiently. “Vhat is taking so long…” he mumbled to himself, his red optics scanning the surrounding halls. No one had wanted to go near him since his encounter with Soundwave, and he couldn’t particularly blame them. He’d been humiliated and basically branded as an outsider.

Yet again.

“As if my ability to triple change wasn’t already alienating enough,” he grumbled.

“Talking to yourself? Heh. You’re crazier than I thought.”

Blitzwing looked around before looking down at the minibot. Apparently Frenzy had decided to start pressing buttons he shouldn’t be touching again. Icy looked down at him imperiously, reminding the minibot just how big he was. “I vouldn’t go picking fights if I vere as small as you.”

Frenzy laughed before hopping onto the bench Blitzwing had plopped himself onto. “Nah, I’m not picking a fight. Just trying to win a bet.”

“Oh?” Blitzwing raised his one optic ridge at him as his scope zoomed in and focused on him, inspecting the much smaller mech. “And vhat vould that bet be, mein freund?”

Frenzy smirked. “Rumble, my brother, decided to bet me that you could talk to me for ten nanocycles without grinding your gears!”

Icy frowned. “So, it’s a sort of game the-” His face spun and Radom grinned, his jagged mouth and bulbous eyes illuminating Frenzy in the dimly lit hall, and he giggled. “Games! I love zhose! Oh, please tell me how to play!”

Frenzy backed away a bit at the unpredictable personality. He didn’t really like this one… but he was smiling, so that was good? “Uh… right. We just… uh. Talk for a bit. If you get mad I lose.”

Random continued to giggle as he looked down at the mere speck on his leg and he picked him up, looking him over. “Ohhhhh, zhis isn’t a very fun game is it??? I have another one in mind!”

Frenzy flinched and covered his face, hoping the big mech wouldn’t throw him and bash him into the concrete floor.

“OH! OH! I LIKE ZHIS ONE BETTER!” He erupted into a giggle fit again and Frenzy peeked out. “Peekaboo! Hehehhahahaha!”

Frenzy stared at him nervously and checked his timer. _Almost… there..._

Blitzwing’s face changed again and Icy coldly looked down at him. “I’m not overly fond of being treated like some sideshow freak, minibot. I suggest you find someone else to bet vhatever it is you’re betting on.”

“B-but Rumble… not sure if you met him, he doesn’t do takebacks! See, I bet him if I could talk to you for a while, he’d stop making fun of me for…”

Blitzwing raised an optic ridge again. “For vhat?”

Frenzy seemed to be flustered for a bit before he glared and started to flail in Blitzwing’s  grip. “For bein’ a protform when a human sorta threatened me! What’s it to you, creep! You gonna make fun of me, too? Well, spit it out, afthole! I can take you!”

Blitzwing was taken aback at the fierce display and the smallest of smiles tugged at his mouth. “How cute. You think you can intimidate me? No. Unfortunately you can’t. And vhat sort of human could possibly scare off one of Soundvave’s little pets?”

Frenzy flew into a stream of curses and insults and Blitzwing only sighed, growing bored of the tempertantrum between his digits. “I am not a fraggin’ pet you three faced glitch! I’ll knockout you into the next cycle you-”

Icy blurred and Random grinned at him. “Bored now!” He threw him carelessly away and stood up, stretching, completely ignoring the solid _CLANK!_ that echoed in the hall as Frenzy met floor. “Ahhhh~. I vonder if Barricade’s gonna get one of those mods he’s been coveting!”

“Hey, afthole! That’s my fagging brother you just threw!”

Blitzwing immediately changed to Hothead, who glared down at Frenzy’s twin and snarled. “Don’t you insects know when to mind your own business?”

Rumble shoved his finger at Blitzwing. “My brother is my business, Afthole! Soundwave’s gonna hear about this and I hope he-”

“Vait.” Icy was looking down at the both of them silently. Frenzy looked like he’d barely sustained any injury, but he was still as angry as his brother. Blitzwing did not want to go anywhere near Starscream or his slime-ridden team anytime soon. _Swallow your pride or get sent to the pit..._ “I think I could make zhis up to you if you vished it.”

“… How could you make it up to us?” Rumble demanded as he helped his brother stand.

“Yeah, Soundwave basically lets us do whatever.”

Blitzwing smirked. “Hmm… I’m sure I could make it vorth you vhile~.”

 

 

Three hours later, Soundwave was organizing a few communications between Megatron and himself,  when his commlink suddenly exploded with a number of complaints, exclamations, and curses. All of them reported what could only be described as pranks, none of them were particularly pleasant, and they all had three things in common.

Blitzwing, Frenzy, and Rumble. He sighed and ordered them all to his quarters. _Strike one, Blitzwing._ He’d have to have a long talk with Rumble and Frenzy… And do his best to not congratulate them for their creativity.


	4. Chapter 4: Fragging Crazy

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I got MY INSPIRATION BACK!!! All thanks to a really nice comment! Thank you!!! Had most of this chapter sitting around for a while, so NOW IT'S BACK, BABY! I'll try to take it slower so I don't drain myself dry again, :P

Chapter 4: Fragging Crazy

 

Five millenia directly under Megatron’s rule, two millennia under Starscream before that, and now Soundwave. Blitzwing had to wonder if he was just being tossed from one of the ‘Big Three’ to another, or if they were just taking turns. “Vell it’s nice to see our leaders share!” he giggled to himself.

No one replied, not even one of his other personalities so he just sat back, reverting to Icy. He frowned at himself for getting into trouble again. No, it wasn’t a good idea to go around giving Soundwave reasons to send him back to that good for nothing Starscream. The whole fact that he knew to hold that threat over Blitzwing’s head meant he either had access to very sensitive information, or decided to do a cordigal patch on him in his sleep. Blitzwing wouldn’t quite put it past Starsscream, but Soundwave? Blackmail almost seemed too out of character.

Then again, Blitzwing had noticed an entirely different way Soundwave worked his command, in comparison with both of the alternatives. Soundwave was strict and had everyone follow their rank uncompromisingly. There were even stricter rules to follow and obey, each of them harboring a vicious punishment should the individual disobey. Usually, those punishments were tailored to the individual, too. One punishment wouldn’t scare another.

The only bot Blitzwing had known to follow a similar system was Lugnut, or more particularly, his sparkbonded, Strika. Blitzwing had never let his co-officer forget how he’d fallen over his own peds just to please his mate, even when she could demand whatever she desired and get it twice as fast.

Lugnut had attempted to smash him into the dirt after the hundredth joke, but it did little to deter Random.

Still… Blackmail.

“I’d like to see him try to send me back,” Hothead growled as he took over. “I’d rather go offline than be sent to him.”

“Yes,” Icy agreed, “but zhen vhat vill we have proved?” He shook his helm and picked up a datapd, flipping through the report he had to turn in later unenthusiastically. “Defiance in death is meaningless.”

Some part of him, stuffed away under the giggles and snarling, balked at that claim. _Martyr._ The old term forced itself through all the different sections of his mind and he snarled, hothead taking over. “Dead mechs can’t do anything for anyone online!” he roared at nothing. “Zhey just cower and don’t do anything!”

“Like all zees humans,” Icy added on coldly. “So many of them have stood up and been squashed that no more try it. It’s almost a shame.”

Almost. _A pity,_ that same part of him whispered. It was a pity that so many of them had stood up and been killed. So many with hard optics. Fearless. Unconcerned with death. Pain had twisted their faces, not cowardice. It was the ones who watched who either rose up or, more commonly, turned away.

 _Survive and live to see another day,_ one whispered to an enraged friend.

Blitzwing only hardened his gaze at the memory, brought up by that unwanted part of him and he growled, his engine rumbling in a low and threatening base, a trick he’d learned from Dirge. “ _Stop_.”

The voice silenced.                                                         

The absence of it seemed just as nagging as its presence.

Blitzwing growled, tossing aside the report, and rolled over in his berth. “Vhatever.”

Just as he offlined his optics, his comms went off and he growled. “Vhat!” he demanded.

_“Ohhh, Blitzwing, please! I don’t think I’ve done quite enough for you to yell at me like that.”_

Hothead slumped at the smooth voice, annoyance radiating off of him in waves as he rumbled impatiently. “Just tell me vhat you vant, Knockout.”

_“I’ll remember that when you’re on my gurney, afthole. You’re going to be pleased to hear that I was able to fix your partner, I assume.”_

“Joy. And I get to return to the menial vork of patrol-“

_“Oh, no you don’t.”_

“Pardon?”

Knockout sighed impatiently. “ _As much as you ‘_ soldiers’ _like to fight, you’re also as stupid as you are strong, Breakdown the only exception I’ve found. Barricade needs at least a Deca-cycle to heal and adjust to his new leg. So, you’ll be stuck with guard duty.”_

Blitzwing ground his dentae together at the smug tone in the doctor’s voice and clenched he his fists. “Is it too much to ask for a miracle?”

 _“From me?”_ he scoffed. _“I don’t do ‘miracles’. That’s Autobot slag. Besides, if I let him run amok, he’ll just ruin his leg again and he won’t need a human to do it.”_

Blitzwing jerked at the ‘human’ comment. He still didn’t believe it was a human. There was no way. “Fine. But if you keep him in berth a day longer than he needs to be, you’ll have to answer to me.”

_“Pfft. Sure I will.”_

The call was terminated before Blitzwing could go any further into detail. Instead, he leaned back into his berth and glared at the floor. A human wouldn’t be able to put a mech’s whole leg out of commission. Sure, he’d laughed, but he’d laughed at the prospect of a human doing such… malicious damage.

Humans couldn’t spit acid, could they? He’d never seen one do that. He’d heard rumors about them retching onto the floor, but it’d never been _that_ acidic… Or had it?

Blitzwing huffed and offlined his optics again. If, and he still wouldn’t bet on it, but _if_ it had been a human that had scrapped up Barriade’s leg… well, he didn’t really want to see what kind of human could do that. It was probably terrifying.

 

“I don’t want to move another foot,” Bobbie groaned as Renee pulled her hand, trying in vain to urge Bobbie to her feet. “I’m so tiiiiiiired.”

“But Bobbie! We need to go! Mr. Ted says we’re almost there!”

Bobbie let out a muffled groan and just rolled over, twisting her arm, but turning away from the child. “Sleep calls to me. It taunts me. So close….. yet so far.”

“Bobbie!” Renee fell back into the snow with a grunt and folded her arms, pouting. “You’re a big jerk!”

Bobbie looked up at her then, her cropped teal hair wild with sleep, bags hanging under her eyes as she sighed heavily. “Why am I a jerk?” she asked, her words slurred.

Renee squinted at her, offended that Bobbie even had to ask. “You won’t get up so we can get to the cabin! We’re almost there and we’ll be able to _really_ get warm and start a fire and not be stuck out here! Also… you know. Food.”

Bobbie squinted at her back before she groaned and pulled herself out of the sleeping bag. “Yeah, you’re right. But there better be something good there.”

“Canned food out the wazzoo,” Ted offered.

Bobbie glanced at him. “… Chef Boyardee?”

“No.”

“Shhhh-crap.”

Renee shot Bobbie a wicked smirk, letting her know she knew exactly what her babysitter was about to say and Bobbie just squinted at her. “Can it, kid.”

“… Was… was that a pun?”

Bobbie shot Ted an equally malicious grin and he rubbed his eyes and groaned. “You’re killing me.”

“You _can_ leave if you want.”

“Oh my god.”

“Or you could _can_ me.”

“Please stop.”

“Unless you’re a-“

“Not one more-“

“CANnibal.”

Ted let out the most longsuffering groan and rubbed his temples with the tried patience of a middle aged mother. “You are… so horrible.”

Bobbie just smirked, pleased with herself. She finished packing up her things with a much livelier attitude, much to the joy of Renee and the continued chagrin of Ted, and stood proud of herself when she finished. “Well! I think we can get on our way!” she said with a big grin.

Ted just looked at her with the most drained and ancient expression and sighed. “Yeah, let’s get going. Don’t wanna linger around here for too long.”

Bobbie nodded with a mischievous smirk and smiled down at Renee. “Let’s leave the old man to rethink giving me ammo.”

Ted threw over his shoulder, “Oh, I’m never going to question your skill again, trust me.”

Bobbie smirked a little wider and grabbed Renee’s hand and started to march through the forest, whistling a pleasant tune to liven up the silent and dreary day. It wasn’t too bad, though. It didn’t feel like doom was hanging over them, or a threat of heavy snowfall. Sunshine peeked through the clouds every once in a while and Bobbie couldn’t help but to be in a better mood than she’d been in in a long, long time.

“So, baby-doll, I haven’t gotten a good chance to talk to you!” Bobbie said with a grin. “Whatchya think of our friend?”

Renee pursed her lips in thought and tapped her chin. “Mmmm. I don’t know. He’s nice and reminds me of my dad sometimes. Sometimes he reminds me of Mr. Olson. I just…”

Bobbie raised a brow and lowered her voice. “You what?”

“He just… I asked him a few questions and he sorta…” she frowns. “Avoided them.  Like mom when she’s working on a criminal case.”

Bobbie nodded. “Yeah, I get that feeling, too. But it’s not like he’s a bad guy, right?”

“No, he’s never mean about it. He’s always really nice and asks me to ask him later or something.”

“Yeah… so you think he’s ok?”

“Yeah.”

Bobbie nodded and looked up at him before raising a brow. “Do you like him more than me?” The question was out before she could stop it and she felt her cheeks turn red and her eyes look down at her worriedly. “Uhh… I mean-”

“No. I don’t like him more than you.”

Bobbie froze, blinking. “What?”

Renee looked up at her, her big brown eyes honest and innocent. “You’re like my big sister. You got me out of New York alright. You saved me from those robots. Not to mention you helped mom take care of me when I was sick all those times… I know you told mom not to pay you, too…”

Bobbie’s flush deepened and she looked away, embarrassed. “Well, I mean… it would have been mean to demand payment for just making sure you’re alright-”

“Mom said it was really nice you did that and also totally weird.”

Bobbie sucked in her lips and pulled her hat closer over her eyes. “Sh-shut up, kid… you’re embarrassing me.”

Renee giggled and squeezed her hand as she replied teasingly, “I love you, too, Bobbie.”

Bobbie only managed a grunt before she went back into silence. _Big sister_ … some big sister she made. She had to illicit the help of a basically complete stranger (who’s shoulder she cried on in a pathetic moment of weakness) in order to keep her safe. She sighed. She shouldn’t have to ask for help… then again, giant robots were never a factor in their relationship. In life, even.

The closest that got was when Bobbie and Renee had stayed up a bit too late watching _Godzilla vs. Mechagozilla._ Biggest waste of Bobbie’s time, but it had been fun for Renee, so it was enjoyable. She shuffled in the snow, letting Renee’s image of her sink in. She supposed three years out of Renee’s life was circumstantial to the nine year old. Literally a third of her life. Bobbie smiled to herself. So, she was her big sister… ok, she could dig that.

“… But you do like him, right? Trust him?”

Renee blew a corkscrew curl out of her face and scrunched her nose at her. “Yes! Stop asking me!”

 

Bobby sat in the snow, all of them taking a rest together. Bobby had slipped off into her thoughts as soon as Renee had started to badger Ted for lunch, and she stared off into the woods, her mind nagging her.

If these bots were so much… better than them, why hadn’t they found all of them yet? Sure, the humans probably had them outnumbered my millions, or so she’d assume, but they were bigger and much more powerful. Humans were easy to track through satellite imagery, and if they held any sort of intelligence, that’s what they would have hacked day one.

So… did they just need a certain amount? Was enslaving  a weaker race a hobby, or an act of war? Or was it just out of spite?

Bobby jolted at that thought. What would cause one race to enslave another out of spite? They claimed to be superior, but they’d have some sort of… deficiency that the humans had that made them want to take over? No, no it couldn’t be that… unless it wasn’t the humans they were spiting.

 _Well, I figured it out. They’re spiting the dolphins._ She rolled her eyes. _So long and thanks for all the fish, my ass._

“You alright?”

Bobby looked back at Ted and nodded. “Just… why would a race enslave another?”

“Who said anything about slaves?”

She frowned. “The bot I had a nice chat with the other day.”

Ted nodded. “Ah, hydrochloric acid bot. Was this before or after you messed with his leg?”

Bobby rubbed her eyes. “He called me slave. I just… I don’t really blame them for enslaving us, we’re basically like rabbits, but… Why? Why would they need us? What’s their purpose taking over us?”

Ted’s expression darkened and he sighed, rubbing his neck. “Who knows. Maybe they need something built, or someone small enough to get into the small cracks in their armor?”

Bobby nods, “Yeah, I guess so…”

“Maybe out of anger, too.”

Bobby looked up at him, her expression masked as she raises a brow. “What, like… spite?”

Ted nods. “Yeah. Maybe someone pissed them off and they’re taking it out on us.”

Bobby continued to stare, her eyes boring into him until he shifted uncomfortably. “What do you know that we don’t?” she asked.

He just silenced and looked away, his jaw jumping as he gritted his teeth.

_Secrets kill a team, old man. Best come clean soon before it’s too late._

“… Anyways, I guess we should get a move on?”

“You haven’t eaten, Bobby,” Renee said, frowning as she stuffed half frozen beans into her mouth.

Bobby blinked before she nodded, pulling out a can of the crap herself. “Right. Forgot.” _Normal people actually have to eat regularly._ Too bad her stomach was tied in three different knots.

 

Soundwave stood at attention, his visor flashing with the light of his optics as he grinded his dentae beneath his visor. He was stupid. Stupid and foolish for setting aside the threat of the human. She’d nearly destroyed Rumble’s helm and she came close to completely rendering Barricade’s leg obsolete. That sort of human wasn’t one to be left out in the world, especially with their enemy still at large. It was only a matter of time, but time was ebbing away and Soundwave’s patience was wearing thin.

Which was why he’d stooped to a level he wasn’t comfortable with. Not in the least.

“Alright, Soundwave,” the mech in front of him purred, handing him the data pad he’d been typing into for the past cycle, or so it seemed, “that’s my starting price. You gotta agree to it before I pick up the little chick.”

Soundwave went over the numbers and calculations and looked up at him. “Inquiry: The price is high for such a small prey. Reason.”

He mech shrugged and offered him a nasty smile. “Kinda don’t want my armor dented by a human, so I thought it’d be best if I added in possible injuries the human could inflict.”

Soundwave’s visor glared into the dark room, but Lockdown didn’t even flinch. “Look, I’m not tryin’ to be a hardaft, alright? Just tryin’ to be reasonable. I don’t wanna come dragging my aft back here cause of a slagged leg, but hey, if it happens, we’ll be covered.”

Soundwave could calculate the likelihood of what happened to Barricade happening to the bounty hunter and it was less than twenty percent. “Denied. Too high.”

The mech frowned, red eyes meeting Soundwave’s visor unflinching. “You want the human gone, sure. I got it, but I’m not changing the rate. She’s your problem, not mine.”

“Autobots: upon catching her, threat increases by ten percent, thirty when incorporating Apex Armor.”

The mech sneered. “Still ain’t my problem.”

Soundwave glowered before handing back the datapad. He calculated the prospects over and over again before letting out a sigh that could barely be detected. “Deal is sufficient.”

He grinned before patting his shoulder. “Pleasure doing-”

Soundwave grabbed his servo and twisted, forcing the mech to his knees. “Lockdown: Not friend. Business. Remember: Soundwave reigned champion in the pits of Kaon longer than Lord Megatron.” He pulled back and the mech grunted in unison with a sickening crack. “Complete deal, receive reward.”

“Sure thing, boss.”

Soundwave left Lockdown alone in the cockpit of his vessel and stalked out, optics blazing against his visor. Blitzwing, he could at least tolerate, but Lockdown was a mech he despised even more fervently than the infernal Autobots. They at least could pick a side and stand for something and Lockdown was only in it for himself, selfish and self-centered. He defiled the Deception insignia upon his breast and Soundwave could not forgive him for such a heinous offence.

Unfortunately, he was just as useful as he was offensive, so Soundwave hadn’t scrapped him. He wanted to. Every fiber of his being wanted to, but he was better left alive.

Especially in instances like this when he couldn’t take care of a taxing issue himself.

 


	5. Chapter 5: Caught

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> No Blitzwing or Soundwave in this one! -SHRUGS- Gotta focus on poor Bobbie.  
> Poor, poor Bobbie.

Chapter 5: Caught

 

It had been a great morning. The sun was shining, it wasn’t so cold, they were on their way and so close to their destination that ted was actually recognizing the region. Bobbie had even gotten a good sleep for once and didn’t fight Renee over getting up. It had been a good day.

But, all the good feelings were gone and in their place lingered a gnawing sense of ominousness and fear. “They’re starting to patrol the woods,” Bobbie said slowly, staring at the footprint at her feet. “Not good.”

Ted inspected the mark, suspicion in his eyes as he touched the snow. “There was only one of them… so far we only found one track and that seems kinda… _peculiar_.”

“True, they always seem to go around in pairs.”

“It’s safer that way,” Ted asserted with a nod of finality. “Having two around makes it easy to round up groups or keep an eye on the other patrol in case things _do_ go sour.”

“Army stuff?” Bobbie asked, folding her arms, “Or more secrets about the giant invading robots?”

Ted just sighed, rubbing his eyes. “Kid, I don’t wanna fight with you.”

Bobbie shrugged, “Then why don’t you start being honest for once?”

Renee shifted between the two adults, both of which were looking like they were about to fight, and she folded her arms. “Hey!” she yelled.

The both looked down at her, somewhat startled. “Can we move? I’m feeling kinda spooked by this, so I’d like to, I don’t know…” she made a face, “get out of here before we die?”

Bobbie smiled gently. “We’re not going to die, Baby. He’s long gone by now.”

Ted stood up and looked pointedly at her. “I wouldn’t bet on that. He’s been making zigzag marks and in snow it’s pretty hard to follow tracks like that. Either this guy is setting us up, or he’s having a grand old time making us second guess ourselves.”

Bobbie rolled her eyes. “Or maybe he’s scatterbrained. Apparenly they’re not above being crazy, judging by Loony Hanz the other day.”

Renee just shifted between them, looking around and feeling more and more scared by the moment… and a feeling crept up her spine and she shifted a little closer to Bobbie, not liking the look of the woods anymore.

Ted spared a smirk and shook his head. “Maybe, but it’s best we keep an eye out for anything suspicious. I’m not in the mood to get dragged anywhere after coming so far.” Bobbie nodded in agreement and followed behind him, taking Renee’s hand when it was offered to her.

Renee didn’t like this part of the woods. It wasn’t particularly spooky, not like a few of the horror movies Bobby had caught her watching, but it didn’t feel nice, either. The winter was never quiet in the city, but this place sounded like the subway when she and Bobbie were waiting for the two robots to catch them. Tense. Threatening. She felt like, at any moment, she’d be picked up by one of those monsters and eaten.

She didn’t like it.

Bobbie was oblivious to the girl’s unease, until a subltle squeeze hinted at the child’s anxiety. She looked down, caught the same fear in her eyes and leaned down. “Hey, what’s up, kid?” she asked.

Renee glanced up at her and looked around and tugged on her arm. Bobbie compiled and bent over so she could whisper, “I feel like I’m being watched. I don’t like it.”

Bobbie paused and glanced around her, trying to see if anyone or anything was hidden in the treetops, but there was nothing. “Are you sure? I usually have pretty good instincts on-“

Renee jumped a bit and clung to her guardian’s arm, yelping. “I see one!” she pointed and flailed frantically, but when Bobbie looked back there was nothing. “It moved! I saw it! I saw it!”

Bobbie moved to investigate, but Ted was faster, rushing in with his rifle tucked against his chest. She only caught a glimpse of his expression, but it was set into a grim line. There was the army in him, she thought. She waited, pulling Renee closer to her as she looked around, her ears straining as she listened.

And then it happened. Footsteps sounded around them, echoing off the trees. They were heavy, but dull and thumped through Bobbie’s very bones.

_Snap… Thump… thump… thump…_

_Crunch._

Bobbie turned around as she felt the hair on the back of her neck stand up. Now, she could feel it. Eyes on her like a hungry wolf, sizing her up and calculating. She felt the presence drag over her like a cold hand, feeling every weakness and exposing all of her frail human insecurities. She felt like the devil himself was eyeing her and judging what would be served best with her.

“Don’t move babe,” she whispered, looking for any sign of the intruder. “Stay close-”

“Nothing,” Ted offered exasperatedly as he dropped his rifle.

Bobbie jumped at him, and hissed, glaring angrily. “Dammit, old man!”

“Hey, no need to be so jumpy-”

“I can _feel_ it,” she hissed at him. “It’s watching me.”

Ted stared at her, looking her up and down before he smiled, pained. “I think we better get you out from this weather.”

“I’m not hallucinating this-“

“Bobbie, just a minute ago you were _fine_. Renee saw something, but it was probably just a shadow.” He kneeled in front of the girl and smiled. “I didn’t find any tracks or anything. There isn’t any robot out here.”

Renee stared at him, still spooked, but she nodded uncertainly, her grip on Bobbie lessening.

The woman snarled at her companion before receiving a pointed look and a hand signal. _Enemy._ “I’m starting to think you’re a bit paranoid, Bobbie.”

Boobie’s eyes widened. So he knew. She stared at him, maintaining her displeased composure as she signaled back. _How many?_ “So what, we just find someplace to hide and hope whatever it is that’s scaring us just walks away?”

_One._ “No one’s scaring us. We’re alone.”

Bobbie made a show of growling before she pointed at him. “Fine. We’ll do it, but I want it to be well hidden and defendable, capeesh?”

Ted nodded. “Fine by me.”

Renee, soothed by the comfort of Ted and the wisdom of Bobbie, felt a little bit more comfortable and not as scared, but Bobbie couldn’t shake off the feeling of being peeled apart by eyes she didn’t want staring at her. Her grandmother’s scolding glare wasn’t as searing as this unknown presence was… but what could she do against it if it was one of those _things_? She didn’t have any more acid. Guns would probably be no use to it.

She sighed heavily and rubbed the bridge of her nose tiredly. She needed a proper sleep where she wasn’t being tracked down and attacked by giant evil robots… but if they were being stalked… would the lodge even be safe?

 

 

Bobbie woke up with a start, sitting upright as her heart pounded in her chest. It was dark and cold. The chill nipped into her bones and she rubbed her shoulders, shifting in her sleeping bag so she could look outside. The small den, which was once a wolf-pack according to Ted, was well covered and overgrown. It was as safe as they could get. She didn’t know if it was her nightmare or the rocks beneath her bum that woke her, but either way she felt no peace now.

There was something in the air that was colder than the frigid ice. It could have been the lingering tendrils of the dream, or the even more insistent presence of the unknown threat, but she could bet it was the latter. The nightmare almost felt better than reality. She looked over at Renee, who was obliviously asleep and content being just that. She moved on to check on Ted, who’s eyes glowered in the darkness beyond the opening. He caught her eye as she moved and nodded in silent greeting. “You feel it, too?” he asked lowly.

Bobbie nodded. She’d felt this same tenseness a few times, that impending threat lingering above her head, silent and malicious. The first time she felt it, she’d barely avoided getting beaten to death by her gang leader and the second ended with her getting stuffed into the back of a cop car. “I don’t like it.”

He nodded in solemn agreement and slowly started to sit up. “I’ll go-”

“No,” Bobbie said curtly. “I’ll check it out. I’m faster and smaller. Besides, if you get caught by whatever’s out there, we won’t know where to go.”

Ted opened his mouth to argue, but snapped it shut just as quickly. She had a good point. They’d freeze out here soon, and they’d been portioning out their rations the past few days to make do with the little they had. If they didn’t make it to the lodge, they’d starve and _then_ freeze. He begrudgingly nodded with a heavy sigh. “Want the rifle?” he offered.

She smiled mirthlessly. “Would it do me any good?”

He frowned, before shaking his head. “Might just piss ‘em off.”

Bobbie nodded solemnly and shimmied out of the bag. “I’ll be careful. If Renee wakes up and I’m not here… tell her I’m scouting. If I tell you to run, run.”

“She loves you, Bobbie.”

She froze, halfway out of the den before she took a deep breath and looked back. “And I love her, which is why I’m sticking my neck out for her.”

“Don’t you dare die.”

Bobbie puffed a strand of hair from her face. “No pressure, huh? What, don’t you trust me?”

Ted just smiled tiredly. “I do, kid… be careful out there.”

Bobbie saluted. “Sure thing, boss.”

She crawled out of the hole, as silent as she could manage, and took a look around when she was far enough out that she could still shimmy back in. But there was nothing. A part of her was thankful that it wasn’t snowing, but it also made her uneasy. If she could see clearing, then so could the thing that was following them. If she’d had any money, she’d have bet that it would see her first…

If it hadn’t already spotted her.

“Shit,” she muttered as she stood up, keeping a crouching position. _I have no idea how to patrol and look around._

Not in this setting, anyways. Streets were easy, look around corners, check the roofs. How do you check woods, though? There were a thousand more places to hide and watch and be terrifyingly creepy.

_If I were a giant robot jerk, where would I hide?_

She looked around, and quickly decided there were a lot of places to do so.

_Better just get a move on…_

She stood up, slipping her gloves on as she walked around, eyes taking in the dreary snow laden woods that seemed much more welcoming during the day. The moon did its best to light her way, but under the trees it got so much darker and so much harder to distinguish tree from shadow.

She learned that after she ran into one.

The only audience to her misfortune was a pair of red eyes and an unpleasant smirk. The mech watched as she cursed to herself and fumbled about in the dark, either doing a good job of distracting him from her little hideout, or making a bad show of being the patrol. _Stupid thing doesn’t know what she’s doing, does she?_ He laughed to himself. He just sat by and watched, enjoying the amusing show while it lasted.

Bobbie was not having nearly as good of a time.

When she was content, or more fed up with the woods, that there wasn’t anyone around that was going to make a move, she retraced her steps back to the camp, glowering. “Kill me,” she growled at nothing. _I hope that if the stalker is watching he had a good laugh ‘cause I’ll swipe that smug grin off his face._

She walked up to the hole and tapped the top of it. “I’m back,” she growled.

“I take it there was a great big nothing?” he asked.

She slipped her head under the opening and offered him a curt glare as she started to shimmy in. “No, nothing but wounds to my pride and frostebite.”

Ted opened his mouth to reply when Bobbie was suddenly dragged out of the hole, only a small yelp escaping her as she slid in the snow, flailing and coughing as snow went in her nose. “ _NO_!”

“Sorry, fleshie,” her attacker apologized, “I got a job to do. It’s just business.” The smooth voice reverberated through Bobbie and she looked back at her aggressor with flaming eyes.  He’d just grabbed her by one hand, his other conveniently hidden behind his back and she snarled at him and kicked at the hand, her free leg smacking against the metal with enough force to dent it.

“Hey, there’s no reason for-“

“ _Bobbie_!” the terrified screech echoed over the clearing and the pair looked over at the source. Renee was scrambling to get out, Ted alongside her, with tears streaming down her face.

“Oh, so you got a youngling with you,” the robot commented disinterestedly. “Huh. Makes sense now-”

“ _Renee, you get out of here right now!_ ”

Renee looked at her, her eyes wide with fright and horror, “But Bobbie-”

Ted picked up Renee and bolted, dragging the child with him as she screamed and flailed, bawling. “No! _Bobbie!_ ”

Only a small portion of Bobbie felt pain at Ted’s immediate retreat, without even a backwards glance, but she shook it off. It was good. He was protecting Renee like she made him promise to. They’d be safe.

But the robot looked up, not really looking inclined to follow, but his attention was caught, period, and it scared and infuriated the hell out of Bobbie.

Sheshifted her weight and aimed for a joint before kicking again. This time he grunted and his grip lessened just enough and she slipped out of the grip. She shot up without any warning and ran in the opposite direction as the other. Her footsteps matched the pace of her heart and quickened when the beat got louder. “You come after _me_!” she screeched.

The robot just seemed to sigh a bit, mildly annoyed. “You organics always make it so hard, don’t you?” He stood up, watching her run away before lifting a device, silently counting before entering a code through a frequency only he knew.

Bobbie felt wires wrap around her limbs and she shrieked, pulling against them and straining. She couldn’t get caught. This was different from before, this wasn’t an accidental meeting. She needed to get away. She needed to get Renee to safety. She couldn’t break her promise to Mrs. Green or Renee. Hell, even Ted!

_If I die now, I’ll never know peace!_

“Well, human.” The smooth voice droned behind her and she felt his steps approach her. “Ain’t botherin’ with your friends, trust me. Ain’t getting paid enough to deal with three of you glitches.”

Paid? So she was being targeted! Paid to take care of someone, of _friggin_ _course_ they were hiring some shit to bring her in! Couldn’t be bothered enough to get revenge themselves so they just bought someone off to do it for them, huh? Scare the hell out of a little girl and then drag her off so she could be properly splattered into the pavement?! She saw red as her blood thundered in her ears. How dare they! As if invading and enslaving humanity and probably murdering whoever stood up to them wasn’t enough, they had to pull this bullshit! She turned around, still pulling against her restraints and met his crimson eyes. “I’ll kill you,” she snarled, bestial rage boiling in her blood.

He just looked at her blandly, hand on hip and watched her seethe. He scratched his chin with his other hand, a terrifying hook that was jagged, unkept, and looked flat out unsanitary. She smirked at the terrifying weapon, unimpressed. “Alright, Capt. Hook, whatchya gonna do, send me to Neverland?”

The robot just stared at her blandly before closing the rest of the distance between them, shaking his head. “Don’t know what’s so special about you,” he commented passively as he plucked a taunt restraint. “You’re spirited, yeah, but not really much of a threat.”

“Give me a weapon and I’ll show you _just_ how _dangerous_ I am.”

The robot paused then and looked at her. He seemed vaguely interested in taking on her challenge, or at least humoring her, but he just let out a hot puff of air and stood up, looking around. “Maybe getting one of the others will make you more compliant-”

“ ** _Don’t you-_** ”

“See, cause I like to do my job _clean_. If I gotta kill someone, I get it done, but I’m just picking you up for a few little upgrades. Soundwave’s an aft and I’m not about to mess up something he’s paying me to do. I may not be an _official_ con, but it is nice to have them on my side, you see? If I go and mess up this little errand of his, I’d be putting my neck on the line and I’d probably never be able to show my face in public anymore.”

Bobbie just glowered at him, her eyes turning to ice as she looked him over. Rage still thundered in her ears, the drumbeat of war thumping through her body, but she took a moment to size him up.

He was thin, but taller than a three story house. The black markings on his face and the toxic green paint boded a sort of sickening and morbid air around him, and the spikes decorating him did nothing to help his case. He stunk of lazy confidence, the kind of confidence a drug dealer had on his own turf.

Bobbie had seen that sort of arrogance before and she knew she couldn’t fight this guy like the others. He would be careful and wouldn’t make the error of not paying attention or letting her out of his sight.

“… You’re _just_ after me?” she asked, grinding her teeth.

He nodded. “Yeah, kid. Just you. Couldn’t care less about the others, but if they make my job easier, I’ll drag ‘em into this, too.”

She glared at him, letting the pounding in her skull lessen and calm until it was just an ache. She became aware of the lack of circulation in her limbs and she stopped pulling at the restraints. “… The other two will be left alone?”

“Unless you decide to pull something, yeah, I’ll leave ‘em alone,” he smirked, showing a few gaps in what she could only assume to be teeth, “bounty hunters’ honor.”

“That was the most _pathetic_ oxymoron I’ve heard in a while, asswipe.”

He shrugged with a small chuckle. “Take it or leave it, fleshie. I got all night.”

Bobbie’s eyes bored into him heartlessly before she finally nodded and her head dipped in submission. “I’ll come quietly.”

His smirk just grew in smug victory and he kneeled, snapping the cords tying her hands together. Her legs, he left tied. _Smart move, asshole_.

“Smart move, human. I was wondering if those other two would be useful or annoying.”

Bobbie met his red gaze with a hateful glare and nodded. “Yeah, well one’s an old man and the other’s just a child. Useless.”

He looked up at her as he fiddled around with some of the leftover cord. “You seemed pretty attached, though. Got a soft spot?”

Bobbie’s gaze only hardened as she offered her hands. “Why?” she demanded. “Do you?”

He stopped at that, pausing as he tied her hands together, and he tapped his chin with the flat of his hook. “Hmm, come to think of it, no.”

“Sucks to be you, doesn’t it?”

He started and frowned down at her. “Why’s that? I don’t have anyone to worry about, nothin’ enemies can exploit.”

“Exactly. Why live if you don’t care about anything or anyone?”

He squinted at her, his line forming a displeased frown. “You watch your whole damn planet go to hell over some ideological war and not get a _little_ jaded, sweetspark.”

She frowned. “So, is that why you’re ok with your ‘superior beings’ taking over the world?”

The robot just smirked. “To be honest, I really don’t care either way. It’s not like you humans have anything against doing it to yourselves.”

Bobbie just smirked. “Well, at least we still learn from our mistakes. Not everyone can be so diligent.” He snapped the cord around her hand taunt and she grunted as it bit into her skin. “Careful, don’t want me to go handless…”

“Soundwave didn’t say anything about you bein’ unharmed.”

Bobbie raised a brow. “What if he didn’t think he had to say anything about it?”

The mech glowered at her before he continued his task just a tad bit gentler. “Fine, fleshie. I’ll just enjoy the show when he splatters you all over the floor.”

She shrugged. “If that’s what happens, I’ll be sure to haunt you first, then.”


	6. Chapter 6: Decepticons

Chapter Six: Decepticons

 

Soundwave fingered through a number of datapads, observing each of the reports with an unmistakable air of disinterest. He wasn’t very happy that Starscream had taken it upon himself to hand over most of his reports for ‘double checking for errors’. Soundwave hadn’t bothered to inform Megatron of the issue, especially since the unsavory mech was coming for a friendly little chat to find out just why all of his files were a jumbled mess.

Frenzy and Rumble, who took each datapad after he was through with one, giggled to themselves and trotted off.

A perplexing mystery, indeed. They’d have to get right on it to figure it out.

He tossed aside another datapad, in a convenient area for his minicons to reach, and reached for another one…

And groaned. His voice popped and warbled with his annoyance, his vocal processor unused to the more organic noise, and he lifted it.

It was a request from Blitzwing. He could tell because every other sentence was garbled nonsense, stuck in caps lock, or utterly perfect. He rubbed his optics, feeling a headache coming on.

“What’s up, Boss?” Frenzy asked, clambering up his master’s leg. “You got another message from that fruitcake Screamer?”

Soundwave shook his head. “Blitzwing: request form submitted.”

“Oh.” He poked his head around and squinted. “What’d he ask for?”

Soundwave looked at it again and read it, Frenzy nosily shimmying between the pad and his master’s arm, reading with him.

After spending a few minutes deciphering it, it became clear that he wanted charge of the human, should she actually get there. He seemed… doubtful that there was such a human, but none the less, he wanted to be her guard.

_“If anyone can take care of her and keep her out of trouble,”_ the triple changer had said in one of his more sober and legible sections, “ _it’s me.”_

“Soundwave: uncertain of Blitzwing’s accuracy in claim.”

Frenzy shuddered. “I don’t know boss, that fleshie seemed crazy to me. She didn’t look scared of anything.”

“Affirmative,” he agreed, pulling up the image of her in his processor. She was determined, harsh, but the smirk didn’t reach her eyes. Fire blazed in those orbs, with either hate or passion, he couldn’t tell, but she was fierce… almost as fierce as Megatron.

Soundwave’s servo started tapping the arm of his seat, his processor calculating such a volatile mixture as this human and Blitzwing would be.

“… I think he’d scare her.”

Soundwave looked down at his minicon. “Inquiry: Explain.”

Frenzy sat, tapping his chin as he struggled to express his reasoning into words. “I just… humans like things the way they are, right? We noticed they don’t adapt too well, but they can, slowly. If things change but change into another sort of routine and regularity, they get back to being comfortable pretty quick, right?”

Soundwave nodded, understanding him so far.

“Blitzwing ain’t like that. He’s fragged in the processor and no one knows how he’s gonna react or treat people. He respects people who can beat him up, but other than that he’s about as compliant as… well, Rumble.”

Soundwave nodded, motioning for him to continue.

“… So, he’d scare the human. She likes comfort and routine, he likes to poke and prod and then maybe squash once he gets bored.”

“Goal: to study human, strengths, weaknesses.”

Frenzy looks up. “Yeah, but Blitzwing is scared of you. You just gotta tell him she’s not for eating and he won’t.”

Soundwave looked back down at the request. Despite the obvious doubt and manic sort of writing, there was true interest. The triple changer wanted to know about this human and Soundwave wasn’t convinced it was to avenge Barricade. No, this was probably just that childish curiosity.

Then again, his cold personality was just as interested as his wild one.

Frenzy plopped on top of Soundwave’s servo. “Look, Boss, I know she’s… a trouble maker and he is, too, but I don’t think she’d be stupid enough to try anything around him. Besides, as a slave-”

“Negative.”

Frenzy blinked. “What?”

“Human: captive. Prisoner of war. Not slave.”

Frenzy cocked his head a bit before shrugging. “Alright, that just makes her all the less inclined to do anything bad.”

Or the opposite. This sort of human would be dangerous with the rest of them. She’d insight rebellion and chaos and probably demand some sort of better treatment. He’d taken into consideration their requirements for specific foods, all of them provided. He’d also offered them proper shelter within an abandoned human community, which offered them heat and shelter from the frigid winter months.

Soundwave was cold, but he knew how to keep the humans well enough to be efficient. Cruelty wasn’t in his nature, but neither was kindness. The girl would upset that balance. He wasn’t willing to deal with that sort of mutiny. Not outside of his ranks, at least. “Frenzy.”

His minicon looked up at him, ready for the order.

“Request granted. Inform Blitzwing.”

He saluted and stood as he made for the end of his knee, “Sure thing, boss.”

“Frenzy.”

He paused.

“Blitzwing: Inform that human is not to be harmed. Detailed reports of progress and character analysis to be given to me in _legible_  hand. Complete emotional distance to be maintained at _all_ times.”

“Sure thing!” he hopped off and trotted out of the room, just as Rumble came in with a satisfied look on his face.

“Got Screamer’s stupid reports all jumbled up. Got anymore done?”

 

Bobbie sat in the passenger’s seat, still tied, and stared out at the world as it passed by. She’d been in this jerk’s back seat for half a day now. The robot seemed to be content with silence, allowing only the roar of his engine to fill it. It had been a boring drive, the only source of ‘entertainment’ had been the somber view outside. Cities abandoned, towns left empty. She’d even been through a few suburban neighborhoods that made her heart break.

There were tricycles left out in the street, cars that had swerved off the road and into other’s yards lay abandoned, forgotten with their doors open to the elements. It was as if the whole world had been frozen, and no one was left alive. No one but her and these stupid robots.

She felt a bit of pain seep into her chest and she thought back to Renee… to Ted. How were they doing? Had they made it to the lodge? Would this guy keep his promise? She shifted and bit her lip. If she’d turned herself in only for him to turn around and… Her eyes burned at the thought of Renee being dead and Bobbie’s worthless self still being around. “Dammit,” she hissed to herself and she rubbed her eyes.

“What’s the matter, kid? So far as I know Soundwave hasn’t got anything bad in store for you.”

She glared at him. “It was you that said you hoped he’d squish me.”

“But that doesn’t mean he will.”

The human rolled her eyes at him, shifting away from him.

“You do realize you’re literally inside me, right? You’re not goin’ anywhere.”

“I really liked the silence we had going on before,” she snapped. “I could actually hear myself think.”

The bot just laughed, the cabin shaking a bit. “You’re one of a kind, you know that? I don’t think I’ve ever met anyone quite like you before.”

“And what am I like, exactly?” she asked, glaring at him.

“Stupid enough to talk back to a mech with my reputation.”

Bobbie barked out the fakest, most mocking guffaw she could manage and bent over, holding her belly. As soon as her mirth started, it stopped and she glared at the radio, her eyes hard. “I don’t know who the hell you are, asswipe. All I know is that you remind me of biker gangs with too much time on their hands.”

“The name’s Lockdown, kid. I’m a bounty hunter and currently working for Soundwave.”

“Yeah, I caught that last bit. Why should I be scared of a guy who can just be paid off?”

“Cause you got nothing I want.”

She looked away, sourly glaring out the window. She rubbed her wrists against her knee, mostly to adjust the cord that was getting too tight and uncomfortably. They were still bleeding, and definitely bruised, but they weren’t dying at least. She could still feel her fingers, so that was good.

“Why does Soundwave want me?” she asked. “I didn’t do anything to him.”

“You hit one of his minicons in the face and then took down one of his patrols singlehandedly. Gotta hand it to you, that was impressive. I saw the damage you did to him and I can say I wouldn’t have done it any better myself.”

She looked up at him suspiciously for a moment before shaking her head and looking away. “So, you really see nothing wrong with this?”

“With what?”

She poked the window, pointing outside to the desolation his comrades had left being. “I don’t know why you did this or what you gain from it, but we haven’t done anything. Correct me if I’m wrong, but most of the people you herded were, in fact, innocent.”

Lockdown let out a sort of impatient sigh and sped up. “Look, I’m not really one for keeping up with Megatron’s plans. I didn’t swear fealty to him.”

Bobbie rubs her eyes. “Enough with the name dropping, who is this guy and Soundwave and all the others jerks I’ve run across!”

The vehicle slowed and pulled over and Lockdown transformed. She popped into the frigid air, within his hand and he frowned at her. “You got no idea what’s goin’ on, do you?”

Her face went flat and she dropped her arms, unimpressed. “Humans can’t read minds, rustbucket.”

Lockdown offered her little more than a displeased frown and scratched his chin. “Alright, kid, here’s the deal. We ain’t just robots walkin’ around and being mass produced by you humans. We came from a long, long ways away. Autonomous robotic organisms might be a good description of us.”

She frowned at him. “What, so like… living robots?”

He nodded. “Sums it up kinda well. See, the guys who got this planet running are Decepticons. They’re your run of the mill warriors and conquerors. But who knows why Megatron ordered to take over this pathetic planet. It’s not really impressive and the Energon reserves aren’t anything too brag about, so it seems kinda pointless to me.”

She rolls her eyes. “So what, he’s just crazy?”

Lockdown eyed her seriously. “I wouldn’t call him crazy. Fanatic, yeah, idealist, supposedly, but he’s not crazy. He knows exactly what he’s doing.”

“Hope he dies alone, then,” Bobbie spat. “Monsters like him usually die alone and without anyone to mourn their loss.”

Lockdown just shrugged and in a few moments, she was back in his back seat, unceremoniously deposited on her belly. “He pays well, I’ll give him that.”

Bobbie didn’t want her to give him anything. Let the Alien Robot Hilter rust and die. She’ll be happy to watch it. “All of you aliens think you’re better than us humans, huh?” she said, grinding her teeth. “Just cause we’re smaller?”

“I don’t have much of an opinion about you pipsqueaks, to be honest,” he admitted casually. “You got a fire in you that I admire, but it’s snuffed easily enough.”

She kicked his dashboard, fed up with him. “Shut up, you dick, I’m through talking to you.”

“… Ok, that kick was uncalled for, and I have no idea what a ‘dick’ is, so the insult’s lost on me.”

Bobbie grinned evilly and licked her lips. “You don’t say~?”

A few miles up the road and there were tires squealing as the mech came to a stop in the road and hollered, **_“You do what with it?”_**

 

Blitzwing was utterly ecstatic for his new arrival. He had been singing all afternoon, Random at the wheel, overjoyed at having something interesting to do for once. Soundwave might have been less overbearing than Megatron, but he was a much bigger stick in the mud.

Of course, now he couldn’t really sing anymore. He and Soundwave, and a few other drones, were waiting in the entrance hall for the bounty hunter’s imminent return. Lockdown was almost to the base and apparently the human had caused a disturbance and he was eager to hand off the human. Blitzwing was all the more excited at that, though. If she was really so special, she had to be something truly terrifying or ugly. Maybe with horns or big teeth! She definitely spewed acid, he was sure of it!

Random giggled, lost in his own strange thoughts. _I bet she’s ugly. With warts!_

_Yes, of course you do,_ Icy offered coldly. _Your imagination is…_ colorful _like that_.

_Uhg, I bet she’ll be troublesome, too!_ Hothead offered. _If she grinds me to hard, I’ll smash her!_

_But if you do that, you risk Soundwave,_ Icy reminded his ill-tempered helm-mate. _We don’t want to be sent back to Starscream, now do we?_ All of the voices went quiet and Icy took charge, surveying the room passively. The room was suddenly quiet without the giggles of the biggest mech, and infinitely colder.

Lockdown’s engines were heard first, before anything else, and then a rather colorful human curse before he sped into the room and transformed, the human swinging and hanging dangerously in Lockdown’s shaking fist. “Get it away from me,” he demanded. He spotted the holding cell next to Blitzwing and walked over to it and shoved her in. “She’s your problem now.”

Blitzwing only grinned at Lockdown. “Ohhhh did you finally meet somevone who vasn’t scared?” he giggled his eyes squinted in amusement. “And so _small_ of vone, too~!”

Soundwave stepped to Lockdown, offering him the few upgrades he’d requested. “Business completed.”

Lockdown took them and walked out. “Yeah, don’t call me to do your slag again. Specially with those disgusting humans.” He transformed and sped off, obviously not wanting to spend a minute on the planet longer than he had to.

Blitzwing just lifted up the cage and looked over her inquisitively. “Fascinating,” Icy commented, his optical enhancer focusing in on her. She certainly wasn’t anything outlandish as Random had imagined. She was bigger than most females, at least in stature. Her hair had been painted an unnatural tone, a sort of blue that faded into what he could only assume to be the natural tone of yellow. But there was a look in her eyes that made him raise a brow.

“Not an animal so stop-,” she kicked the glass, “appraising me!”

Blitzwing jumped at the ferocity of the kick. He could have almost sworn that the reinforced glass cracked a little, but upon inspection, it hadn’t.

Soundwave stepped into Blitzwing’s sight and he offered the human to him. He just stared at her, silent and unmoving, all while the human glared, her hands bound and bleeding and her eyes blazing in rage. Eventually, he looked up at the triple changer. “Blitzwing: report to detention. Remove bonds.”

“Why am I here?”

Soundwave looked down at the human, who had stood up. He said nothing.

“Why am I here, Soundwave?” she demanded.

“Inquiry: Report your knowledge of Soundwave’s identity.”

She smirked. “I was there the day you stormed New York. I slipped outta there with a little girl. Watched you bicker with that other guy, what’s his name, uh, Starscream!” her smirk turned to a snarl. “You might have told him not to kill the humans for pleasure, but I don’t like being tracked down and having the kids in my care being terrified and thinking I’m dead.”

“Inquiry: Preference, bring child here.”

Bobbie kicked the glass again, screaming in rage. “Don’t you touch her!”

Soundwave only watched in silence as she fought against the restraints. Eventually, she stopped, and panted, her eyes still as blazing as before. “Inquiry: Barricade’s defeat.”

She spat onto the glass. “Go to hell.”

“Inquiry: escape from initial hostile takeover.”

“I said go to hell, I’m not telling you shit.”

Soundwave leaned down over the cage and grabbed it, his joints groaning in his ebbing self-control. “Report or die.”

She looked at him coldly before adjusting her weight on the glass. “… I made an acid bomb. High concentrate Hydrochloric acid and aluminum foil. I didn’t think it’d work as effectively as it did.” She looked up at him and shifted again. “As for my escape and the girl’s, I avoided crowds, went through the sewers, hit that… mini-whatever and continued on through the subway. From then on, I guess it was just luck.”

Soundwave released her cage. “Inquiry: other companions.”

“The girl and an old man. No one else.”

“Inquiry: Directive.”

She looked up at him and raised her brow. “What?”

“Directive.”

“… I don’t-“

“Mission.”

She sighed. “To get somewhere where you creeps wouldn’t hurt me or the girl. I couldn’t care about anything else other than food and safety.” She looked up at him. “My directive, as you so intelligently put it, was the little girl. That’s it.”

“So you attacked a mech three times your height for a little girl?” Blitzwing laughed. “Zhat’s crazy talk!”

The human offered him less than a glance before looking back at Soundwave. “I heard you wanted to get back at me for what I did to your little friend. So, go on, get me. Squash me, do whatever, I don’t care.”

Soundwave stared at her before standing up again and looked at Blitzwing. “Report to detention.”

“Yes, Sir!”

Blitzwing turned away from his commanding officer, continuing to inspect the human. His smile was big and reached audial to audial. “Zhat vas impressive, mein freund!” he congratulated. “You vere very scary in zhere, even if you are so small!”

The human only slipped down, sitting in her cage and leaned her head against the glass, closing her eyes. “Yay. Great. Whatever.”

Blitzwing frowned and tapped the glass. “Hello, you just stood up to Soundvave, zhat is not somezing to just brush under zhe rug!”

She folded her arms and sat them on top of her knees. “Yeah, well that means nothing to me, there Blitzkrieg, I’m new to these parts.”

Hothead immediately took over and he growled, “The name is _Blitzving_ , puny human!”

She waved him off. “Sure thing,  _Blitzving_ , I’ll do my best.”

He snarled, showing off a few gap in his teeth and she smirked. “I have one of those, too,” she said, pointing to the flaw.

He paused, snarl fading. “Vhat?”

She opened her mouth and pointed to a tooth near the back of her mouth. Icy took over and inspected the wound curiously. “Fascinating.”

She closed her mouth and nodded. “Yeah, it’s gross, too.”

Random laughed a little and nodded. “But it’s so cool, zho, you humans are so funny!”

The human just raised a brow at him and shook her head. “You’d be the first I’d heard that from, weirdo.”

“Vhat’s your name?”

Now that, she blinked at. Random was really only curious, and he’d assumed Soundwave knew it without having to ask, but she looked like he’d just admitted to being Megatron’s love sparkling.

“Vhat? Did I say somezing veird?”

She scrunched her nose at him, “Yeah, you… asked me my name.”

“And?”

“You’re the first to do that?”

He shrugged. “I don’t vant to just call you human!”

“It gets boring after a vhile-“

“And zhen zhat idiot will start giving you _stupid_ nicknames like _sveetspark_ and _cutie_ pie!”

The human watched all of the faces cycle in front of her and had to laugh a little. “Alright, fine, whatever, I give. I’m Bobby.”

“Bobby,” Random tasted the word on his vocalizer and smiled. “Ohhhh I like zhat vone! But zhat doesn’t mean I von’t call you cutie-”

“If you had anozher body, I’d _crush_ you!”

“Here ve go again…”

 

The cell wasn’t too bad… it was probably ten foot by ten foot, with a little metal box that was a sorry excuse for a bed. There was a small room in the corner which housed a poorly constructed bathroom, but it wasn’t as bad as what Bobbie had seen in convenience stores. Apparently, the bots really did find human necessities to be disgusting and didn’t want to watch them go about that sort of horrible business. There wasn’t much else to the cage, other than the glass front door and the mech still staring at her from the other side.

“… Don’t you have something to do?” she asked. “Like… a job?”

“Oh, zhat vould be you.”

She frowned. “… What do you mean?”

“Vell, Bobbie, I am your guard! I make sure you are safe and sound inside zhis cage!” He tapped the top of it. “And I keep you from escaping!” He offered her one of the sweetest smiles he could offer and it vaguely reminded her of Renee… minus the unsettling Jack-o-lantern features.

She could offer him more of a… uncomfortable grimace and walked over to her bed. “Ok, so… uh… that’s it?”

His smile turned into a pout. “Unfortunately, yes.”

The blue face replaced the frightening one and he looked down imperiously. “I was demoted to patrol vhen I vas unwilling to succumb to idiotic mechs zhat Soundwave assigned me to.”

Redface replaced the last and he smashed his hand against another cage. “Idiots tried to make me pick up after zhem like I vas some drone! I vorked under Megatron! I am one of ze elite and here I am looking after some _stupid_ human!”

“No offense,” Blueface interjected.

Bobbie rubbed her eyes and sighed. “Yeah, well, I’m not too happy to have you as a guard anyways.”

“Und vhy is that?” he asked, raising a brow.

She took a deep breath and slipped off her jacket and scarf. “No one wants to be a captive to an evil race that’s taking over your planet and murdering and enslaving and being the villains they are.”

Jack-o-lantern gasped, clearly offended. “I am not a villain! I am vone of zhe mighty Decepticons! Strong! Dashing!” he cupped his cheeks. “Adorable~.”

Bobbie was not impressed. “Uhuh, right. More like spooky, insane, and _delusional_.”

Redface snarled. “You’re just a stupid human, vhat do you know?”

She shrugged and sat down, using the jacket as a pillow. “I don’t know. Apparently nothing because I’m just a stupid human.”

She didn’t hear him move, but he didn’t make any other comment’s either. She could hear his faces change, that strange whirling motion a bit slower as he thought. Three voices, three faces. Almost three different people.

Almost. This wasn’t like a normal case of multiple personality disorder. If it were, they’d all have separate names. It was more like… bipolar disorder, maybe.

“Human.”

Bobbie couldn’t distinguish which voice it was, but at the moment, she didn’t care. “What?”

Silence followed for a few moments before the voice continued quietly, “… Sorry for calling you stupid.”

Bobbie immediately sat up and stared at him, but she didn’t have enough time to see his face as he stood up and walked away.

Which face had said that?

_Why_ did he say that?

What could possibly push one of those behemoths to apologize to a human?

Much less Bobbie herself.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> SO this one turned out to be really long, but I wanted to properly establish the Cons and who they are to Bobby. She's been in the dark long enough, so now Lockdown's explained it.... and has a little something something explained to him (poor bastard)


	7. Chapter 7: Head Full of Lies

Chapter 7: Head Full of Lies

 

Bobbie didn’t sleep much. Time seemed much different in an alien environment… in fact, it was more than just unfamiliar, it was very doubtful that where she was currently being housed had been manmade. It was too drafty to be that. She rubbed her arms, her fleece jacket over a sweater and a thermal shirt barely making ends meet, and her jacket was currently being used to limit the amount of numbness running through her backside.

She’d completely misjudged this hellhole. It was cold, dark, miserable, and incredibly uncomfortable.

She banged her head against the wall a few times, groaning. “Stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid-”

“ _Human_!”

Bobbie jumped at the sudden red face in front of her cage and the enormous frown in front of her. “What!?” she demanded.

“Stop _hitting_ _your_ _head_ against zhe vall! I don’t van’t to clean up after your bashed _brains_!”

Bobbie snorted. “My head’s too thick to be bashed that easily, Hanz.”

He frowned at her. “ _Blitzving_.”

She shrugged. “Oh, right. I forgot your name. But I’m pretty sure you forgot mine, too, since you keep on calling me **_human_**!”

“I have not! So use mine, **_pipsqueak_**!”

She groaned and rubbed her temples. “I preferred cutiepie.”

“Ohhhhhh~!” Jack-o-lantern grinned at her, giggling. “Do you~?”

She threw her jacket at him and he dodged it, despite the glass stopping it before it got to him. He frowned at her, Blueface judging her coldly as he looked down his nose. “Vhat vas zhat? You couldn’t hit me even if you vanted to.”

Bobbie didn’t grace him with a reply, and just glared. He was annoying. He hovered and berated her and told her what to do and talked to her like a child. It was like having her grandmother around all over again, but a thousand times worse. No, this grandmother happened to be four stories tall, crazy, and had major anger issues.

“Vhat, are you giving me zheh silent treatment now?” He smirked, the insolent curl of his lips made her hackles rise. “How sparkish. How are ve going to get anyvhere if you don’t talk to me?”

“Depends on where you wanna go, dipshit,” she growled. “Cause I can send you straight to hell if you let me outta here.”

The smile disappeared, but Redface didn’t take over. Instead, those calculating red eyes bored into her, his stare a thousand times more intense than Bobbie ever felt like she could live up to. Still, she tried, never breaking with him. They bored into each other, searching for something. Bobbie didn’t know what she was looking for, and she wondered if he knew, either.

Finally, he broke the eyelock as he looked down at her chest. “Vhy are you shaking?” he asked. He smirked again. “Are you frightened?”

“No, I’m cold.”

He raised a brow. “I don’t believe you-”

She grinded her teeth. “A human’s natural body temperature runs at about 98.7 degrees or something like that, ok! This air around me is freezing cold and I’m about as toasty as the snow outside, so my body is shaking itself to try and keep warm.”

Blitzwing rubbed his chin, nodding. “Interesting. Zhe friction your body creates must allow you to be varmer zhan you vould be ozhervise.”

“Yeah, but it’s uncomfortable and exhausting. Can I get like blankets or a heater in here?”

Bltizwing frowned at her. “Vhat is a blanket?”

She smacked her face and dragged it down, frustration making her eyes roll back in her head. “You… are so _stupid_.”

“Vhat did you just say to me?!”

Bobbie rolled her eyes at the Red face and mimicked him with a mocking expression and a childish puppeteering of him with her hand, “Vhat did you just say to me? I sound like Schwarzenegger and have no idea vhat a frikkin’ _blanket_ is!”

Hothead bashed his hand atop the cage next to hers and snarled, “Don’t mock me, human!”

“Bobby, dammit, my name is _Bobby_!” She knocked her head.  “If you can’t get that through your thick skull, then kiss my ass!”

The two cannons atop his shoulders lowered and pointed at her, the tips glowing red and whined as they fired up. “I vould tread _very_ carefully if I vere you, _Bobby_ ,” he snarled, his voice low and dangerous.

She glowered at him, looking down at the weapon before looking back up and meeting his visor. “… I’m still cold.”

“You von’t be if you don’t _shut_ _up_.”

She looked back at the cannons and could bet that there would be an explosion if she didn’t keep her mouth shut. As much as she wanted to tempt fate, she couldn’t… She’d let down Renee. So, she calmly turned her back on him and laid down on her bed. “… Fine, I’ll just freeze to death. Lucky me. Worse things have happened.” She pulled her jacket around her and curled up, still shivering. She’d shivered out in the snow plenty, but there she could build a fire, even if it was a small one. She’d also had Renee and Ted to curl up next to when she needed that extra body heat, but here? There was nothing.

So she sat there, shivering and miserable. She’d catch a cold and that would be the end of her. She grew up in New Orleans, for god’s sake! Cold wasn’t in her upbringing. Sure, she liked it way better than the unbearable heat and humidity, but she managed better in the heat when there was nothing to do about it. She closed her eyes, and let the concept of isolation set in.

She had no one. There was no one. Just Bobbie. Renee was gone. Ted was gone. She could barely take care of herself now and she was left with Arnold as her guard.

She listened to him walk away, and she curled up even more.

_Alone._

The haunting voice came out of nowhere and she looked around, terrified. She’d heard that before, years and years before. Sometimes she could hear it echo out of the chasms of her heart, when she was alone back in New York, but she hadn’t heart it that loud since…

Not since she was running with the gangs.

She covered her head, hiding from that voice and trying to block it out.

But it was true. For the first time in a long, long time, it was true.

She was alone.

 

Despite Bobbie’s belief, she wasn’t quite totally alone. Not completely.

Blitzwing was trying to fight off his own little voice. And was losing.

“She looked so sad,” Random said, his usual smile turned down. “I vanted to hold her and make her stop shaking.”

_Idiot, she was trying to fool us into getting her something she doesn’t need!_

_It seems completely reasonable that she was attempting that, but her explanation was also just as believable-_

_You siding with the pipsqueak now?!_

“Bobbie,” Blitzwing corrected himself quietly. “Her name is Bobbie.”

_So what?! She tells us her name and we have to care? She’s just an organic! She doesn’t matter!_

_Besides, what if one of the others caught us calling her by name? We’d be the laughing stock, would we not?_

Random didn’t seem so convinced, nor did he seem to care overmuch about what would happen to him. He kept on remembering how she was all curled up and shivering. She really did look cold, bundled up and trying to conserve heat by wrapping around herself. How long would that last, anyways, before all of her heat flew out of her body, abandoning her fragile organic flesh until she was just sitting there lying frozen and dead and cold and-

Blitzwing bolted out of his quarters and down the hall, huffing as he pushed mechs out of the way, tripped over his own peds, and got back up on his feet. “I can’t have her spark on my hands!” he announced to no one in particular. “I vould be a murderer!”

_You already are one,_ Icy commented dryly.

“Zis is different! She is so small and cute and I couldn’t just _vatch_ her shiver like zhat!”

_Shivering isn’t a real thing, idiot._

“Even if it isn’t I don’t vant to risk it!” The price of losing her was much higher than the pride of having  his pride stomped out by being tricked.

Hothead begged, no demanded, to disagree, but Random just ignored him.

Finally, he got outside and looked around blankly. Where would he find a blanket? What _was_ a blanket? He looked around until he spotted the nearby Slave settlement and rushed over and knocked on the first house he came by. “Hello?!” he called in. “Iz anyvone in zhere?”

He heard someone shriek within the building and something else crash, but then a head popped out the window and an elderly human glared at him. “What do you want?” she demanded impatiently.

“Vhat is a blanket and vhere can I find zhem!?”

She blinked at him. “What?”

“Blanket! Find! Vhere?”

She still looked confused and Hothead took over. “Tell me vhere I can get a blanket or I’ll splatter you and your puny house!”

“Ok! Ok! Jeeze calm down, ya lug!” She pointed down the road. “Up there, big store, blue sign, it’s got everything. Blankets are in ailse 7.”

He nodded and jumped up, Random taking over again and running off yelling over his shoulder, “Zhank you!”

The woman just shook her head and closed the window, wiping her hands off in impatience. “Imbecile.”

Random bolted down the town, not really caring where his feet landed. He was only concerned with getting Bobbie what she needed. _Blankets, Blankets, Blankets, Blankets, Blankets, Blankets!_

_Yes, we get it already._

_Shut up! We’re not doing any harm! We’ll just get it and drop em in her cage and then leave!_

Icy sighed, the equivalent of rubbing his optics. _Why I tolerate you two is beyond me._

Blitzwing finally found the store and ripped the roof right off of it and poked around, looking for that aisle seven. He fiddled around with other stuff, momentarily distracted by all of the human toys and gadgets. He poked at a little fake and stuffed animal he thought was cute, when he found the blankets! But, they really didn’t look like anything that could keep Bobbie warm… in fact, they all looked like boxes. He picked one up and squished it, but it didn’t lose much of its shape. Icy took over and inspected it, frowning. “It certainly doesn’t look like a blanket.”

“But it’ll have to do!” Random interjected, picking up a fistful of them. He paused before he stood, though, and looked back down. He stared at the stuffed animal he’d spotted… and it stared back. Sad. Waiting for a hug, arms spread wide.

He grabbed it, too and then bolted back, “I’m coming, Bobbie!”

 

Bobbie picked at her nails, the ugly, ragged and short things always disgusted her. She’d bitten them when she was a teenager, bitten them as an adult, and now she was biting them as a prisoner. She spat out the little bit of her nail she’d pulled off and promptly stuffed her hand under her bum. It was better than biting it until it bled. That was never a pleasant experience. In fact, it was the worst. She’d tried to stop plenty of times, but it’d become a habit she couldn’t quite shake.

Her current circumstances didn’t help at all.

Bobbie hissed in frustration and banged her head against the wall, yet again, almost daring the big jerk to tell her to stop.

… But he didn’t come and yell at her.

She almost missed it.

It was eerily quiet without him there, hovering. He didn’t make her feel cozy and nice by any means, but it was better than… nothing. He hadn’t really hurt her yet. His threats seemed infinitely more empty than Soundwave’s or Lockdown’s had been, but he was still easily angered. She blew a tuft of hair out of her face. He was harder to frazzle than Lockdown… and curious about her. She wasn’t sure if that was a good thing, or a bad thing, but whatever fate it boded, she wasn’t sure she wanted to be there when he got around to being…

Well… free to do whatever he wished to her. She doubted it would be anything short of dissecting her and then playing with her entrails.

She shuddered. She could just imagine his fingers covered in her blood as he rooted around in her intestines and stomach, all with that big creepy grin and giggles-

“Frauline!”

Bobbie jumped at the shrill, almost panicked voice, and looked up. She felt the tremors as he ran to her cage and stopped in front of it, Jack-o-lantern features staring at her in panic. “Are you ok? Are you frozen yet? You are still pink so I guess zhat is good!”

Bobbie just blinked at him, raising her brow in confusion. “Uh…”

“She can’t even speak properly,” Blueface interjected.

“I know! It is horrible!” He held his head as if he was just so shocked that she didn’t have words for him and he dropped something, and quickly picked it up before pressing his face against the glass again. “It is alright, Bobbie, I got you blankets so you von’t freeze to death!” He opened the door and shoved in comforters, sheets, wool blankets, and even some weird bedroom overhang. “I just grabbed a lot because I didn’t ask your favorite color. Vhat is it by zhe vay?” He paused like he forgot something and added with a smile. “Oh! And I saw zhis and thought of you!” He delicately placed a stuffed polar bear into the room and then shut it with a smile. “I thought it could keep you company!”

Bobbie just stared at him as he beamed at her, her prison now covered in various bedsets and comforters and patterns and colors. And to add to the absurdity of the situation, a big white bear sitting on top of it all.

It was true. Bobbie had _no_ words. She couldn’t even let out a breathy ‘shit’ to express how confused she was. She just couldn’t wrap her mind around him bothering to do this, and to get so much, or perhaps it was just because he was so big that it didn’t seem like a lot, but still, just… and then the bear, what was that about? What sort of evil robot alien nazi would give her a stuffed bear along with… What, thirty different various bedclothes and blankets? Not the one in Bobbie’s horror story, that was for sure!

All the while,  Blitzwing beamed at her, watching and waiting expectantly. Slowly, as she stayed silent and unmoving, the smile waned. He shifted uncomfortably and glanced around. “Frauline.” He tapped the glass gently. “You’re supposed to… use zhem.” He pointed at the various bed items and nodded towards them pointedly and encouragingly.

“Uh.”

The smile was back at her response and he nodded vigorously before resting his chin on his hands.

She slowly stood to her feet, looking around at the mess before her, and picked up the closest package. It was a deep purple, geometric design. Not really her style, but… it was definitely something she could use? She unzipped it the plastic packaging, looking up between him and the work before her, and he watched like an enraptured child at a birthday party, waiting for the present to be revealed.

When she got it open, she grabbed the blanket within and yanked it out, the full size of the object rippling in the air and she heard an audible gasp. She looked up at him and she could have almost sworn she’d seen stars in his eyes.

“Zhat is so cool!” he gasped, utterly in awe. “Oh, Primus, do it again!” He clapped wildly and nodded emphatically. “Again!”

She looked at the various blankets and coverings at her feet and then back at him, and had the distinct suspicion he’ll want her to do it for every single one of them. “I mean, I…”

He silenced, listening intently.

“… I really only needed one… or two.”

His smile faded and he looked down at the numerous blankets at her feet, and he suddenly looked sheepish and embarrassed. “Oh.”

She cleared her throat and shifted. “But I…. I’ll uh… pick out like… my top three?”

“Four.”

She raised a brow at him and he covered his face in shy embarrassment. “I don’t vant you to get frozen…”

She blinked at him before her expression changed drastically. “So you killing me is ok, but not me freezing to death?”

He flinched. Bobbie had been looking right at him and she saw it, plain as day. He flinched. And he didn’t reply and he didn’t look at her.

Bobby walked over to the glass, folding her arms over her chest and looking at him curiously. “… It was you who apologized to me, wasn’t it?”

Suddenly he lunged at her, Redface snarling as he braced his hands on either cage next to her in a terrifying threat of violence and lights flashed beneath his visor. Bobbie fell back onto her rump, frightened by the sudden display of carnal rage. “I don’t _apologize_ you **_stupid human_**! I don’t stoop to such _veak_ things like _sentiment_!” He got closer, his heat fogging the glass in front of her. “Zhe only reason I did zhis vas to make sure I don’t get _blamed_ for killing _you_!”

She panted, wanting to argue with him and wanting to challenge that lie, but he just snorted at her. “If you don’t vant them all, zhen I vill take vhat you don’t need!”

He opened the case again and this time, Bobbie scooted as far away as she could from his hand. He dragged out a large portion of them, including the stuffed animal, and then slammed the door shut. He slammed it so hard there was a crack in the corner.

He pointed at her, finger shaking in rage. “Don’t tempt me to break your veak little body myself, frag the consequences. You nothing but an _insect_.”

Blueface took over the berating, his imperial features judging her with a cold so frigid it burned. “Useless. _Vorthless_. **_Pointless_**.” Then, he walked away, his pace easy and slow, relaxed as if he didn’t have a care in the world. Nothing moved in the cage until the steps faded into silence.

Cold, unnatural Silence.

Bobbie sat alone in the corner of her prison, shaking. Her eyes burned with fear and pain and she trembled as she slowly made her way to the one comforter she’d opened. She managed to climb onto her poor excuse of a bed, and she wrapped herself in the comforter like a cocoon.

She wanted to cry. She wanted to really bash her head against the wall and end it here. She hated to be scared. She hated to feel like there was something scarier in this life than other than being alone… but that… but that moment of seeing him so angry, so controlled by rage.

That was different. That was more than scary.

That was downright _petrifying_.

And she didn’t want to see it ever again.

 

The hallways were dark.

Apart from the sentries and patrols, everyone was in recharge.

Other than the one sole mech, silently creeping through the halls. He’d studied how he moved and he’d managed to perfect moving without making a noise and without causing tremors in the ground. It wasn’t perfect by any means, but it was better than if he were gallivanting about the base and singing at the top of his lungs.

In fact, he had no desire to do that.

He just wanted to see the little human in the prison. That’s all.

He finally got to that very room, and he silently slipped in. He inched his way further in and managed to get to her cell without making a noise.

He bent down to get a better look, and the sight that met him didn’t ease his troubled spark at all.

Little Bobbie was huddled in the corner, all wrapped up in a single blanket. She wasn’t shaking anymore, but he didn’t have to try very hard to imagine what had caused her to wrap herself up like that. Shame filled his spark and he looked away. The little gift in his servo seemed so insignificant and foolish. Stupid, really.

But it was all he had. He silently opened her door and slipped the little thing inside and closed it just as silently. He sat there a moment, part of him wishing she would wake up, see him, smile, tell him it was ok, and thank him for the stuffed animal.

But that was a fantasy. She stayed asleep. She stayed huddled. She stayed terrified.

Of him.

He swallowed back a lump caught in his oral intake and he stood up, knees shaking and he slowly walked away from the sight.

_Unicron take me for this,_ he thought to himself.

None of his personas argued.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> .... I am so sorry for making this chapter so sad ahaha I didn't mean it to turn out that way, I honestly wanted it to end at a cute note but Blitzwing rebelled. Welp, uh... I promise next chapter won't be so sad and the one after that will be where we get an Update from Renee.
> 
> iamsosorryahahhahaithurtmetoo


	8. Chapter 8: Betrayed

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The chapter you've been waiting for!!! What's happened to Renee???? To Ted??? 8D

Chapter 8: Betrayed!

 

Ted hadn’t stopped running. He ran until the sun was up, and then he collapsed, panting, exhausted, and overheated. His heart was a manic beat in his chest and limbs and head, and he could see stars.

“Mr. Ted!”

He looked down at the girl, whose tears had dried. She was still scared, eyes wide with fright and sorrow. He offered her a tired smile and touched her cheek, gasping, “It’s alright, baby girl… it’s alright…”

“But Bobbie-“

“She’s fine!” He insisted, coughing a little. “She’s strong. He wanted her alive.”

The little girl didn’t look so sure and she shifted a little as haunting thoughts started to attack her. He waved her over to him and he leaned down, and he put his hand on her shoulder. “You ever see a human stand up to one of those things?”

Renee shook her head.

“Me neither, not with that little weaponry. She’s stronger than any of those monsters know.”

Renee nodded, a bit of hope brewing in her eyes.

“I bet that ugly robot’s already nursing a wound and she’s making her way back to us right now!”

Renee didn’t seem too sure about that, but she nodded none the less.

Ted just smiled at her and patted her shoulder before shifting a little. “I need to rest, kid… we both need to.”

Renee looked around and found a low hanging tree. Its lowest branches were just three feet above the ground, plenty of room for them and not nearly enough for one of those monsters to find them, or so she thought. “Over there,” she said, pointing to the tree. “We can sleep under there, maybe?”

He nodded and managed to pull himself back to his feet. “Yeah, that’ll work, kid…” They began their slow shuffle over to the tree, exhaustion seeping into the old man’s bones, mixing with his sorry and quiet worry for Bobbie. He didn’t open that wound for Renee, though. He knew she would need time to heal.

They finally made it to the fir and he slipped underneath it, joined by the girl a few moments after he’d gotten settled. The branches hung a little higher over their heads here, so he leaned against the tree, gripping his rifle to his chest as he watched Renee curl up next to him and shiver. “We’ll be alight, Renee,” he whispered to her.

She nodded, but didn’t say anything.

He couldn’t blame her.

Sleep slowly crept up on him, dragged by exhaustion, and he slowly closed his eyes, his grip around his rifle and Renee slipping as he fell into unconsciousness.

The only thing that met him in sleep, were red eyes, blue hair, and an overwhelming sense of sadness and fear.

 

He awoke to a loud rustle and jumped, gasping with shock at the rude awakening. Renee was just coming back in and she blushed, shifting a little.

“Where’d you go?” he asked, snorting with the lingering sleep.

She flushed darker and laughed nervously. “Uh… bathroom.”

He coughed and nodded, “Right, uh…” he looked around, checking the light and found that it was getting dark. It wasn’t much of a disadvantage to their adversaries, he knew, but it would make better cover for them, none the less.

“…Alright, kid, help me up. I think I’ve rested enough today.”

The little girl helped him to get out from under the tree and back to his feet. He was sore and stiff from the long run, but she steadied him, and in a few moments he remembered what balance was. He looked around, trying to get a feel for where they were, and he sighed when he saw a familiar ridge up ahead. “Hah… G-good thing I ran in the right direction, huh?” he asked, keeping his tone light. “We’re really close.”

“I hope so,” she said softly. “You look really bad.”

He blew through his lips and waved. “Noooooo, not me, kiddo.”

Renee rolled her eyes and helped him as they began to make their way up a hill. It wasn’t as steep as it could have been, but Ted was quickly reminded of his age and physical limitation. His joints groaned and protested as his lungs heaved with each step. At least his heart had gone back to it’s steady, usual beat. They trudged up and up and up until they got to the top, and then they started down the other side.

“I thought we were close!” Renee complained. “Which hill is it on?”

“It’s not on a hill,” he corrected. “It’s in this valley up here.”

Renee looked down, but didn’t spot any sort of house within the trees. “Where is it?” she demanded shortly. “We need to call for help!”

He glanced down at her and cleared his throat. “It’s.. uh… underground.”

The girl’s eyes went wide. Her knowledge of hunting lodges was limited, very limited in fact, but even this seemed to be absolutely absurd. “What do you mean, it’s underground?”

Ted sighed, and grimaced a little. “Well, see, kid, I uh… when I said it was a hunting lodge, I kinda… fibbed a bit.”

She frowned. “What?”

“It’s not a lodge it’s an… army base.”

Her eyes went wide. “ _Really_?”

“Yeah.”

She stared at him a few moments longer before her eyes got bigger. “Are you still in the army?”

He nodded.

She squealed and hugged him and jumped up in the air and fistpumped, absolutely overjoyed to hear this! “You’re in the army! So you can call in tanks and planes and missiles and… and spaceships, right?”

He chuckled and rubbed the back of his neck, “Well, I mean, not really and I’m sure that’s not a smart move, but theoretically, yes.”

She whooped and hollered again and burst into a run down the hill. “I’m gonna be in the army!”

Ted watched her run and jump, and maybe even summersault, but perhaps that was just her tripping over herself. He laughed at her antics and continued down the hill alone, using his rifle as a walking stick. She’d certainly taken it better than he’d hoped she would. Bobbie would have been more suspicious, perhaps even angry, and he’d had to have eventually told her the whole truth.

Renee would be let in to the truth at a bit better of a pace, it seemed. He sighed at that. He hoped that his team wouldn’t be too much for her to handle, though he doubted that a little. So long as Big Red didn’t respond, she’d be fine.

When he got to the bottom of the hill, she trotted back up to him, hair wild and dark cheeks glowing with childhood joy and she bounced. “So, so where is the secret base?” she asked, hair bouncing around her ears. “Where’s the secret base?”

He laughed. “If you were standing on it, you’d have bounced through it by now.”

She stopped and looked worriedly down at her feet. “Is it that old?”

He laughed again and continued into the forest. “Hyperbole, kid, hyperbole.”

Renee tried the word out on the edge of her tongue, squinching her nose in confusion.

Perhaps it was best to stop using such big words, poor thing. He turned his attention away from her and started looking for the marker. To anyone hiking around out here it would just be a rock, a bit strangely shaped, but a rock none the less. To any of his team, they’d know it was a safe haven if they got separated, lost, or any other number of possibilities. After a while of searching, he spotted it, almost overgrown by a bush. “No wonder no one’s been using it,” he muttered.

“What, why not?”

He looked back at the child blankly before chuckling. “Big bush got in the way,” he said, pointing down at the stone.

Renee stared at it. “… How do we get in?”

“Like this.” Ted crouched next to the rock, found the code panel hidden beneath the snow and entered in the key and the rock slid, opening up a big enough gap for two fully grown men to step into, side by side.

Renee ooed at the sight and hopped down. “So cool!”

He just chuckled at her and followed her down, careful to close the opening above him. Safety and certainty were finally theirs… and he could see if Renee’s mom was alright.

And maybe schedule a rescue for Bobby, if she was still alive.

 

They ate first. Renee had only questioned the size of the base, which was really a maze within the hill they’d passed over, a little. Instead, she’d been entranced by the heat provided to them by the number of generators hidden somewhere on the premises, and had rushed to the kitchen. He prepared her a delectable meal of canned chicken, dried fruits, and water, but she claimed never to have had better food in her life and scarfed it down with the same enthusiasm she’d have had for icecream.

He’d taken his food with him into the communications room and had immediately gone to work trying to find the frequency he needed. None of the old communications would work, he was sure, and he avoided them like the plague. He didn’t want that creep Soundwave picking up on them.

He’d dealt enough with him.

“Ground Base 354-78, please come in. Agent Theodore Miles requesting emergency pickup.” He’d been saying that same thing over and over again for nearly two hours. He didn’t bother to give any more information on that, before he moved on.

He was starting to lose hope that this was what the others were using. He paused, rubbing his forehead as he listened to static. He changed the channel once more, and said into the microphone, “Alright, if any of you dingos are listening, here’s the frikkin deal: I’m stuck out here in the middle of balls cold nowhere with a little girl who just lost the emotional equivalent of her big sister to those overbearing, overfueled, and undermanaged Decepticons and I am this close to mounting one of those big ass choppers we got in the back and flying me all the way to you jerk wads, so if you could bother to actually check the other god forsaken frequencies for nobs like me, that would be fragging _great_.”

When he was done with his tirade, he turned off the mic and rubbed his face, feeling the weeks old stubble and groaning. “I need a-“

 _“Yo, boss,”_ came the smooth and calming voice, staticy and distant, but still there, _“Sounds like you got a pretty bad situation over there.”_

Ted grabbed the mic and turned it on, shaking he was so excited. “Hey! Hey oh my gosh is that you?”

_“Man, I got no clue who you think it is, but yeah, it’s us-”_

There was a clatter and another voice chimed in, masculine and overbearing, _“Hey who is it? I swear on my mother if it’s that shithead B-”_

_“Hide, go find something to punch, I’m actually dealing with a serious situation here-”_

_“Yeah,_ me _. Spill it, jackass.”_

Ted laughed, covering his mouth as his eyes started to burn and he rubbed his eyes. “You have no idea how happy I am to hear that you’re alive and doing well.”

_“Ted? Holy shit! You’re not dead!”_

“No, I’m not, but I came really close to it.”

_“No way, what-“_

_“Gossip can come later. Ted, I need your coordinates. We lucked out a few months past and got our hands on a sweet little ride-”_

Ted cleared his throat nervously and scratched his beard. “Actually, uh… I think it’d be best if we… you know... do this the old fashioned way.”

_“Why?”_

Ted shifted. “Well, uh… the girl I’m with is kinda new to this whole _alien_ situation and she’s… well, she doesn’t know about… you.”

There was utter silence and, just as a precaution, he turned down the volume so that it wouldn’t echo to where Renee sat, probably still pilfering through the old rations. And he was very glad that he did, because a stream of very profane, colorful, and flat out crude exclamations came from the other end, and Ted shook his head.  It took five minutes for it to calm down and another for him to run out of curses.

“You done?” Ted asked.

_“… Yeah, I’m done.”_

“Good. Now, send Bravo team out here. I want Renee to have a warm welcome, not what just happened two seconds ago.”

_“I’ll behave-”_

_“Right on, sir. I’ll get ‘em ready.”_

Ted came back down into the main hangar, infinitely relaxed and assured that it would get better from here on out. He walked down the corridors, stretching and smiling. _I’m so glad that hell is over,_ he thought. Still, he was concerned for Bobby. According to his team, they’d intercepted word that they had, in fact, caught the human prisoner, but she was to be studied. Of course, with Decepticons, who knew what ‘studying’ really entailed? Ted could just hope that they could gather enough intel to break into the base before anything horrible happened. He’d never forgive himself, let alone Renee.

He entered into the main hall and called out, “Alright, Renee,  we’re going to be picked up in-”

He silenced when he caught sight of her, curled up on a sofa and covered by a blanket. He chuckled. No doubt she’d found the blanket herself, the industrious little thing. She’d fallen asleep, clutching something to her chest. As he came nearer, his heart sank. Bobbie’s hat. He looked up at her and gently touched her face, concern in his heart and eyes. “… God, please help Bobby…” _And help this child to be strong._

“Bobby will be ok…”

Ted caught her eye, still tired and filled with exhaustion. “I’m sure she will,” he said with a smile. “I’m just…  giving her a little bit of extra help.”

Renee nodded, and nestled into the hat a little more.

Something thumped above them. The ceiling shook and dust fell, and Renee sat up with wild, frightened eyes. “Ted!”

He looked up, his eyes shifting around the base. “That’s weird…” he muttered.

Before he could think, Renee bolted and ran for the corridors.

“Renee!”

She didn’t stop and blocked out everything he said. She was terrified. It was those robots again! They were coming after her and Ted! She couldn’t let them get Ted! Not him, too!

“Renee, stop!”

Tears burned in her eyes and she ran as fast as her legs could carry her, which were farther than Ted’s old bones could, and she turned down the corner.

And ran straight into something.

She fell to her knees, holding her nose and sobbing. She couldn’t even run away without messing up! She was sure to die!

“See, that’s what you get for runnin’ around without payin’ attention!”

Renee jumped at the strange voice and looked up.

And froze.

He was big, really big, and mean looking and standing right over her. There was one behind him, peering around. “Ohhh, lookit, she’s so small!”

“Shut yer yap! She’s just a kid!”

“Hey there, little girl, are you Renee-?”

She shrieked, an ear shattering noise and both the robots cringed and covered the sides of their heads.

“Where’s the mute button?”

“Renee! Stop screaming!”

She was picked up and she thrashed in Ted’s arms, trying to get away from the monsters looming over her. “They’re going to kill us! They’re going to kill us!”

“Renee! Calm down!”

She managed to elbow him in the face and bolted in the opposite direction, bawling as she felt betrayal fill her chest. He wasn’t trying to help her! He was going to give her to them! This was all a lie, a dirty, dirty lie! “I hate you!” she screamed.

Ted was left behind, standing under the shadow of the two mechs, tears burning his eyes.

“… She’ll… get used to us…” the smaller robot commented uncertainly.

“Hopefully she doesn’t _scream_ again,” said the other, still rubbing his audial receptors.

 

Renee took the little pride she could manage into her excellent hiding spot. She’d found a nice cubby that was big enough to hold her and a blanket to cover herself with. Now she’d at least have a chance to hide and wait it out.

Hide and seek with Bobbie had been fun. This wasn’t at all!

“Renee?” one of the robot’s voices called. “Renee you there?”

It was the smaller one, at least, not the big mean one. If he was smaller he’d not be as fast, right? She heard him slowly walk around and she heard him move stuff and shift things. She covered her face to keep from crying and she shook, terrified.

“Poor thing,” he said to himself. “She must be so scared!”

“It’s her own fault for not staying with Theodore.”

Renee froze. She hadn’t heard that voice before and hadn’t even heard him walk! She shook even more, terrified of this new voice.

“That’s mean, Prowl,” the first voice said. “She’s just a kid. Don’t you remember bein’ a protoform?”

The other voice huffed. “With age comes experience and she’s lived long enough to tell good from bad.”

Renee didn’t like the one voice, Prowl. He sounded mean and cold, like one of her mother’s Co-workers had sounded. She was a mean lady who always upset her mom and was doing bad things and saying worse things. Her mom had banned her from repeating what she’d said.

The other voice seemed just as unimpressed. “She’s nine years old, scrapheap. That’s like… a sparkling! She doesn’t know we’re the good guys!”

“Good and bad is all in the realms of perception, Bumblebee-”

“Oh, stuff it Prowl, I’d rather deal with Ironhide than you right now. Go find your own room to search.”

“Fine, though I doubt you’ll have more luck than I will.”

There was a small silence where nothing was moved and nothing was said, and the lingering voice huffed. “What a jerk,” he muttered to himself before returning to his work. “Renee?” he called again, even more gently than before. “Renee, kiddo, I’m not gonna hurt you, I promise.”

What would Bobbie do? Renee asked herself that a million times, trying to imagine what Bobby would do. She’d have rushed off and created a distraction so she could get away, or fought him off, or just ran for it.

Renee was too scared to do that. She was terrified of being faced with the monster-

The footsteps sounded in front of her, and she held her breath.

But a polite knock came from the other side, and a voice, “Hey, Renee, you in there?” She held her breath a bit and listened as he sat down, his metal fingers still on the opposite side of the door. “That’s a really nice hidey hole you have there,” he said. “You mind if I come in?”

“Don’t!” she yelled, before she thought any better, and she covered her mouth, shaking and terrified.

“Alright, I won’t, I promise.”

She stayed silent and afraid as he just sat outside the cubby, tapping his metal fingers on something else that was metal. It slowly became a beat and he said, “You comfortable in there?”

Renee shifted. “N… no.”

“Too small?” he asked.

“Yeah.”

He tapped something else metal and hummed. “I know a lot of little holes in here that are _way_ better hiding places. I bet even Prowl, that jerk you heard earlier, wouldn’t find you!”

She rubbed her eyes. “Really?”

“Yeah! And they’re not this small and compact and probably much more comfortable.”

Renee nodded. “No, it’s… not really comfortable.”

“You wanna come see em? I promise I won’t tell anyone else where we’re going.”

She thought about it for a moment. He didn’t sound like the others had. He sounded nice, like he cared. Kinda like Bobbie, too. He didn’t sound like she was lying, she knew what that sounded like. Bobbie had taught her how to tell. So here this big robot was, being nice to her.

She slowly pushed the cubby door open and peered out, shyly looking at the robot sitting across from her. He smiled, a big friendly smile and he waved, blue eyes shining. “Hi! I’m Bumblebee!”

Renee looked at him a moment. He really didn’t look like the bad guys. They all had dark colors. This one was bright yellow. She rubbed her nose. “Hi, Bumblebee…”

He leaned down and offered  her his hand, which really wasn’t that big. “Want some help outta there, Renee?”

She nodded and grabbed one of his fingers and he slowly helped her out of the cramped space and into the big room. He wiped away a stray tear and smiled even bigger. “See? I’m not so bad! Let’s go find one of those hiding spots!”

She nodded, a hint of a smile teasing her lips and she waited as he stood up and started to lead her down the hallways, chatting with her as if he’d known her all her life.

 

Ted rubbed his eyes as Ratchet tapped his arm impatiently. “We gotta get back to the base,” he said, reminded Ted of what he already knew. “Her mom’s waiting for her there, scared out of her mind.”

Ted nodded, looking even more aged than he already felt. “I know, I know…” he sighed, shaking his head. “I just didn’t think she’d run off like that.”

Ratchet shrugged. “She’s a kid, Ted. You never know how they’re gonna react to things they don’t know about.”

Prowl, who had taken up perch atop a stack of supplies, grunted. “You would think she’d take it with a bit of grace, though-”

Ratchet kicked the stack and Prowl lost his balance and wobbled. “Yeah, well I’d think an established ninja like you would be more gracious!” The ninja bot fell onto his face and Rachet chuckled. “And grace _ful_.”

Prowl growled as he got up, infuriated that he was so thoroughly embarrassed and folded his arms to try and recover from the embarrassing display.

Out of the halls, came the sudden sounds of screeching and Ted stood up, staring into the darkness. “Renee?” he called.

“What did that idiot do now,” Prowl hissed, but Ratchet just shoved him aside and peered into the darkness.

“Oh Primus almighty-“

Renee and Bumblebee spilled into the main hangar, Renee screeching as Bumblbee, all dressed up in a big tarp with sticks tied to his head stiffly walked behind her, playing the part of a horrible monster. “Renee, I’m going to get you~!”

“No you’re not!” she shot back, hiding behind Ted and sticking her tongue out. “Mr. Ted will protect me!”

Bumblebee chuckled and pulled off the tarp, grinning. “Awww, man. No fair!”

Ratchet only rolled his optics and picked up the tarp, grunting. “Shoulda figured you’d keep this old thing,” he grumbled.

Bumblebee shot him double pistols and a wink before walking over to Prowl, giving him the smuggest grin, and leaning over Ted. “I told her everything.”

“Yeah! They’re big nice Autobots who are helping and you’re helping, too, you’ve been working with them for longer than I’ve been born and you’re a hero!” she hugged him tightly.

Ted’s fears were soothed and he smiled gently before he picked her up. “So, we’re even?” he asked.

She nodded vigorously. “Yeah!” She flushed and looked away. “S-sorry for calling you a liar…”

He just smiled and nuzzled her nose. “You’re forgiven, Renee. Now, come on, we gotta get going. Your mom’s waiting for you-“

“My mom?!” Renee almost hopped right out of his arms right then and there. “My mom is ok?!”

Ted nodded. “Yup! She’s back at the main base. She was on government business when the Decepticons made their move, so she was saved along with other officials.”

“Does this mean we’ll be able to save Bobbie?”

Ted faltered, uncertainty overcoming him before he could stop it, but Ratchet cleared his throat and she looked at him. “Ted ain’t the one to ask about that, kid. That’d be Optimus.”

“Optimus?” she asked quizzically.

“Yeah. You’ll meet him soon enough.”

Renee nodded and Ted let her down and she immediately hopped over to Bumblebee with a smile. “Can I ride with you?” she asked.

Bumblebee nodded. “Yeah! But it’ll be a really short ride!”

She shrugged. “Ok!”

Ted watched her chat with Bumblebee as if they were old friends, and he leaned against Ratchet’s leg with an air of heavy exhaustion and age that Ratchet hummed his approval. “I understand that sentiment perfectly, kid.”


	9. CHapter 9: Defense Mechanism

Chapter 9: Defense Mechanism

 

He’d been silent all morning. Bobbie hadn’t heard a peep out of him as he’d sat in front of her collection of cages. She couldn’t even get a good look at his face, and his shoulders offered no insight into what he was thinking.

He wasn’t even cycling through his faces.

If Bobbie hadn’t known any better, she’d have thought he was dead.

She was torn, yet again. Having him silent was better than almost any of the alternatives, but it was a thousand times more unnerving than having him order her around. She didn’t dare break the silence, apart from her slow task of opening the blankets left over and positioning them on her bed. She’d sat on it after, and to her relief, found that it was a thousand times softer and warmer than it’d been before. She supposed ten comforters, two sheets, and a wool blanket would do that, though… So, she’d sat, curled up in the first comforter and sitting on the other thirteen, enjoying the food he’d brought her just a half hour ago.

She hadn’t had much of an appetite all morning, though, so it was a slow and miserable process. The bread wasn’t fresh, but it wasn’t stale. There was a can of fruit she’d had a wonderful time opening, a bottle of water that was almost solid ice, and a can of Chef Boyardee. Who knew she’d have to be enslaved to relive the wonderful joys of such horrible-for-you-but-so-delicious foodstuffs. Even still, she avoided that can until she could stomach it and enjoy it.

Bobbie wasn’t sure when that would be, though…

She looked up at her guard, who moved just an inch in her direction, and she froze. Was he going to break the silence and say something to her? Was he going to demand she eat all of her food right then and there?

But he just moved his head back to its previous position and sighed. “Vhat do you vant, Knockout?” He remained silent a moment. “… Seriously?” he asked air. “And vhy vould I let you do zhat?”

Bobbie raised a brow at him. Who… was he talking to?

“Fine. I’ll let you in- Breakdown, too!?” he let out a hiss of frustration and stood up, and Bobbie caught the grim expression he’d been wearing this whole time. “Just believe me vhen I say zhat if you lay a single digit on her,” his voice lowered to a dangerous key and he said, “ _I vill break it_.”

Bobbie smiled nervously at that. Be scared of the guys where were coming in, if they were even real, or be scared of the robot who just threatened to break his friend’s fingers.

Whichever was worse, she was certain she didn’t ever want to piss him off like that.

She heard the door hiss open and she poked her head out, to see if she could get a glimpse, but quickly got back into her bed when she saw Blitzwing continue his march to her cage. “In zhere,” he said hollowly.

A new face popped into view, and she frowned at it. Big red and black eyes bored into her, a flawless white face complete with perfect red paint stared at her from the other side and grinned. “My, what a specimen, you are!” he said, tapping the glass. “Could you stand up for me so I can look you over properly?”

Bobbie didn’t move and just glared at him.

“Hello,” said a new voice and the pretty mech was pushed out of the way, replaced by a big, burly blue one with an orange face. “Doc’s talking to you!”

She raised her brow at him. As if that meant anything to her. He wasn’t her doctor, nor did she care overmuch of how he was talking to her. She wasn’t a pet. She wasn’t a ‘specimen’.

“Is she a mute?” the first one demanded of Blitzwing. “Or deaf?”

“No. I’m sure she just vants to be left alone.”

The blue one tapped the glass, a little harder than the red one had, and frowned. “Primus she looks mean. Kinda small and weak, though.”

“No veaker than you,” Blitzwing spat bitterly. “Are you done bozhering her or do I have to kick you out?”

The red one shoved his companion out of the way again, earning an offended, “Hey!” but he paid no heed. He looked Bobbie up and down, took in the bundle of blankets surrounding her, and then spotted the little white thing in the corner of the room

And then Bobbie remembered it.

The polar bear that she’d sworn he’d dragged out of her room had suddenly reappeared into it again in the middle of the night. She hadn’t thought on it too long, or hard, but it had startled her a little to see it there. Apparently it only amused the bot jeering at her and he chuckled mischievously. “Ohhh, I see, Blitzy~.”

She heard Blitzwing’s joints stiffen and the bot in front of her stood up, allowing his friend to continue his gawking. “You have a soft spot for the little human, don’t you~?”

Blitzwing remained silent and she could just imagine his Blueface’s eye and monocle boring into him.

The first one chuckled lowly. “Oh, you always were one of the strangest mechs I ever knew. So much like those infernal… well, you know who.”

“Get out.”

“I actually did come here for a reason, you know.”

“Zhen spit it out before I rip out your infernal spark and _eat it_.”

The face in front of her pulled away and folded his arms. “Uhuh. Right. As if you’d try it with _me_ here.”

Blitzwing entirely ignored the masculine bravado, and his red eyes bored into the small mech in front of him. Bobbie suddenly noticed just how much smaller the red one was compared to the hulking Blitzwing, who stood almost twice the size.

She’d been mouthing off to _that_? _Shit._

The small one inspected his hands, as any primp and pompous human would and seemed disinterested as he relayed his news. “Well, I thought it’d be best to warn you that your partner Barricade almost snapped his new leg today trying to get up. Something about getting the human back for slagging his leg.”

Blitzwing’s eyes turned to burning slits and his frown deepened, but he offered no comment.

“… He was so pressed to get her that I had to sedate him to get him back in berth. I don’t suppose you have any advice or… comments on the matter?”

Blitzwing just leaned down, successfully dwarfing the much smaller robot, and he bared his teeth. “I vas tasked vith keeping her in her cage and studying her for Soundvave. Barricade vould get in my vay of zhat and if it comes down to slagging him or letting him slag her,” he stood up and looked down at him coldly. “Zhen I vill gladly put him out of his misery.”

Knockout just nodded, unintimidated and patted his companion’s arm. “Come on, Breakdown, I have a bit of buffing to do. Blitzwing can stay here and continue to play guarddog.”

“Whatever you say, Knockout.”

The two walked out like age old pals, the smaller mech going over what fighting Barricade had done to his finish and whatnot, before the door closed behind them and Blitzwing and Bobbie were left alone.

Blitzwing stared at the door for a solemn minute before walking back over to her cage and kneeling in front of it, studying her before he studied her cage, his eyes barely lingering on the stuffed animal just in front of him. “… Are you alright?” he asked, almost as if he didn’t feel comfortable asking that.

Bobbie eyed him a moment, suspicious before she nodded, uncertain.

He nodded, mimicking her and sat down, his back to her once again.

Bobbie continued to watch him, silent and stiff. She wasn’t sure how to write off the exchange between this… Knockout and Blitzwing. She started to pick at her nails, thoughts stampeding across her brain. After what felt like an eternity, she spoke up. “Uh… Blitzwing?”

He turned his head just a fraction, not looking at her. “Vhat?”

She shifted a little. “I… uh… so who were your… uh… friends?”

“Knockout is our doctor. He’s unorthodox, often gets sidetracked by his own beauty routine, and a gossip.” She heard his face change and Red growled. “I really do _not_ like him.”

She grunted. “Yeah, I can understand that… kinda self-centered.”

Blitzwing growled and stood up, throwing his hands in the air. “If I could beat him, I vould, but I am not allowed to because he is actually a doctor and vhen he vants to, he does a decent job at vhat he vas trained to do!” His red face grinded his teeth and he pounded one hand into his other. “And zhen zhere’s his only friend Breakdown who lets that vorthless pile of slag treat him like utter scrap and zhe idiot _just lets him_!” He grabbed his head as if he was getting a headache and barked out, “I vould love to just beat zhat spike casing and make him cry as he looked at his ruined frame!”

He plopped back down after his tirade, his arms folded in final, absolute impatience and he growled, tapping his arm in an agitated beat. “Fraggers like him make me vant to punch zhe vall until my servo leaks.”

Bobbie stared at him as he panted. He was still tense, angry, and upset… but luckily not at her. She picked at her nails again as she watched his shoulders slowly relax and lean against the cages calmly. Silence spread through the room and the woman slipped from the bed, still wrapped up in the purple blanket, and walked to the front of the cage. He glanced at her, still Redface, and watched her approach the front.

She stopped directly in front of the stuffed animal, and he looked away, his teeth grinding again.

“It vas a stupid thing to do,” he muttered gruffly.

Bobbie picked up the thing, which was nearly half her height, and stared at it quietly. It was soft, with silky fur and perfectly plush. If she took it back to the bed and curled around it, she was certain she’d have a much better time being comfortable and warm.

But there was that nagging presence of the robot next to her, and as he avoided looking at her and kept to himself, she sighed. “… I don’t want you to get mad,” she started. “I really don’t feel like pissing myself… and I’m not trying to start anything.”

His head moved in her direction a fraction, but he made no other move to signal he’d heard her.

“… I don’t know why you got me all these  blankets… and I won’t pretend to be baffled and mildly freaked out, and really scared of you, but I…” she rubs the back of her neck, feeling the short hairs just above her collar rub against her fingers. “… I guess I should thank you. I’m sure you didn’t have to do this for me… the teddy bear is really cute and… yeah.”

He still didn’t move, but she’d heard his face change a few times and she wondered who was in control now. Redface still terrified her and Blueface gave her freezer burns… but the Jack-o-Lantern she didn’t know how to take. He was a fit of giggles and jokes, panicked and worrisome, and so childlike that she almost felt sorry for him.

“… If you, like… just want me to shut up about the whole ordeal, then go ahead and tell me off. I’m not really into getting yelled at over nothing and innocent questions, so I’ll stop bothering you.” She turned away and walked to her bed and grabbed another blanket, only to walk back to the glass. She tossed the blanket under her and sat on it, silently watching her captor through the glass as his rigid metal body refused to look at her.

The silence returned and with it, cold. She pulled her blanket around the stuffed animal and she buried her face into the silky fur. It smelled a little like how Lockdown had smelled. Metal and gasoline and oil, no doubt from Blitzwing’s fist, but it also smelled like a musty store. It smelled like it’d been on a shelf for an entire century, waiting to be plucked off and sent somewhere it could be with a child and loved.

Instead, it had gotten snatched by an alien and shoved into her arms. If the poor thing had a soul, Bobbie would feel sorry for it. She closed her eyes, breathing in the must and the oil and the metal all at once. Such a small, meaningless gift… and yet it made the painful silence so much more bearable than it’d ever been before. Sleep overtook her, and she fell asleep like that, curled up and hugging the bear as if she was a child again.

 

Blitzwing had waited for her to fall asleep before looking at her again. It hurt him to hear her admit to being scared of him… but he couldn’t deny the fact that he understood it. None of his components argued with him, and instead they kept uncharacteristically silent. Perhaps her words had moved them, too. Perhaps they were just arguing between themselves. Either way, he didn’t like her being scared of him.

He’d relished in plenty of other specie’s fear of him. He’d enjoyed how they’d cowered and how much bigger, scarier, and stronger he seemed when he stood over them and scared them… but there was something so familiar with the humans. They were different from his own kind, in not only stature, but in nature, but they were still…

Blitzwing sighed and rubbed his face, frustration leaving him through a hot vent. He hated it. It was a weakness. Caring about such a weak species, such a weak member of that species, was prohibited. Forming attachments was prohibited. Being close to anyone other than your loyalty to Megatron  and the Decepticon cause was prohibited.

He scoffed at that idea. The ‘Decepticon cause.’ Who actually remembered what it even was anymore? Some claimed it was ‘to enslave and destroy’. Others, who could actually remember the beginnings of the war, claimed it had been ‘Freedom is our right and we will fight for it’, but even that sounded like propaganda.  Blitzwing had joined the Decepticons in their later years. He’d never paid attention to any of the news or the goings on of Cybertron, and now he regretted it.

Primus, how he regretted it.

He’d just signed up, more comfortable with being on a side than not being on a side and he’d been swept up, dragged under Starscream’s ambitions, and left behind in the slag and ruins of everyone else.

And then they’d changed him, made him into a Triple changer, and he was feared. He was respected. He had power and strength and everything he’d always wanted when he’d been trampled.

So he’d trampled others.

Memories came flooding back, all of them bitter and most of them violent. He’d had nightmares about them once, but not the only things that haunted him now were his other components.

His faces cycled as he stewed in his own, ancient filth. He wanted to contact Dirge, talk it out like the old mech had forced him to, solar-cycle, after solar-cycle. It’d never gotten any easier, but Dirge had never mocked him or berated him, and he’d never told anyone.

Not a spark.

But what would he even say to him? _“So there’s this human that I like a lot and care about but I fragged up and scared her senseless so now she’s never going to talk back to me or joke with me without dancing around my volatile components.”_

He scoffed and shook his head. Dirge would probably fly over there and check him for a damaged brain module that hadn’t been damaged before… but who else would know what to say to him or decide to say anything at all?

So, he activated the comm-link and cleared his throat. “Dirge? Are you zhere?”

There was silence for a moment before the comm-link activated and Dirge rumbled, _Hello_ , in his usual sombre greeting.

“I… have slag to talk to you about.”

 _Obviously_ , he responded with a low chuckle. _Alright, sparkling, what’s wrong_?

Blitzwing had a troublesome time explaining it, and at each part where he expected his old partner to call him out, he only hummed a short response. He told him about the initial meeting, how she was so fiery and sassy, strong and burning with that human intensity he admired so much. He explained how he’d ruined it by lashing out in childish defense of his  pride, his irritable component acting before he thought, yet again. Dirge only listened, and he could almost imagine him nodding, brooding, but always with open audial.

When Blitzwing was done, Dirge hummed a bit, the deep sound of his vocalizer rattling his helm. It’d happened plenty of times in other conversations they’d had over the years and every time Blitzwing could feel his own processor rattling and coming loose from the noise. Before his lost more of his precious processor power, he burst out, “Will you stop zhat! I cannot hear myself zhink!”

 _Good_ , Dirge rumbled. _I don’t want you thinking when I tell you what I think_.

Blitzwing grumbled, but gave him no direct response apart from, “Fine, go ahead. I von’t interrupt.”

Dirge harrumphed in contentment and he heard the old mech’s joints creak as he leaned back. _You got a real gentle spark, you know that right?_

Blitzwing snorted.

 _Shut up and listen. You’re the kind of mech who naturally gets empathetic whether you like it or not. You’re also a real sweet sparkling and you do your best to take care of the people you like. So, I know you like that human_.

Blitzwing rubbed his face. “Slag-.”

_Not finished. Just cause you like the human, doesn’t mean you’re weak or anything. And slag the fragger who said apologizing is a sign of weakness, it isn’t. It’s one of the hardest things to do and any mech who’s got the ball bearings to apologize, when his life isn’t on the line and he’s got no reason to, that bot’s got my respect. So, here’s the deal: Get over yourself. Soundwave might have ordered you to keep complete emotional distance, but from day one that was a flat no-go, so do what I do when I do something half decent that Starscream’ll hate._

Blitzwing grunted, “And what’ll that be?”

_Lie through your teeth. You can’t do anything good here without pissing someone off, so I say slag ‘em and lie. If you get caught, whatever, you died doing something good and Primus has your spark._

“But what if-”

 _Think about it this way, old friend,_ he said simply, _would you rather see her scared of you and worried you’re gonna squish her if she does something bad?_

“No. Never.” Blitzwing didn’t even have to think about it.

_So frag what everyone else says and do what you want._

Blitzwing let that sink in, let his other components chew on it and he nodded. “You really should have been an Autobot,” he joked.

Dirge just chuckled. _Yeah, but then who’d have taken care of you all these vorns?_

It was a good point. Blitzwing would have lost the rest of his processor a long time ago if it hadn’t been for Dirge and he thanked Primus every day for that one blessing. Well, now he’d have one more thing to talk to Primus about.

Keeping Soundwave in the dark about his affiliation with the human.

 

Soundwave was in the midst of a droning call with Starscream when Blitzwing popped his helm in. Soundwave didn’t take too much note of the way he immediately left when he heard Starscream’s grating voice. In fact, he couldn’t blame him overmuch. He’d always avoided Megatron’s side when he was on call with the slaghead. It was too bad he couldn’t now.

“-So you’d better get on this, Soundwave! I don’t like to waste my time and have to refile everything you misplaced!”

“Suggestion: complete filing yourself.”

Starscream just snarled at him. “And waste more of my time? No. When we were on the Nemesis, that was your job!”

“Circumstances: change.”

“That’s slag!” Starscream lowered his voice to a dangerous growl he only used with certain people and hissed, "Do your job right, or when I get down there to clean up this mess, the destruction in my wake will be a thousand times worse.”

The communication was terminated before Soundwave could respond, and he sat in silence for a few nanocycles.

When his thoughts were collected, he turned back to his door and called, “Permission to enter: granted.”

Blitzwing immediately stepped in, his Icy persona looking at him somberly. He walked over, a datapad in his hand. “My first assessment of zhe human girl,” he said.

Soundwave took it and walked over to his desk and entered it into the system and began to look it over. Blitzwing shifted, as if to leave, and he lifted his servo in a silent command to stay, so the triple changer did.

He calmly read all of it, scanning the report with mild disinterest until he came across a section that made him pause and rescan it.

_“… The human is, how shall I put this? Fragile, but stubborn. She seems to have no breaking point, no real weakness. She still feels fear, but there is strength in her so uncommon in her species I find it fascinating and horrifying. If all of her kind was like her, I think we would have found ourselves defeated long ago.”_

“Inquiry: interest in human.”

“Solely of the scientific kind.”

Soundwave turned and locked eyes with him and drummed his digits on the arm. “Inquiry: other personas’ opinions.”

Hothead immediately took over the mech and he snarled. “Stupid human is alvays getting on my nerves! She pushes my buttons and asks questions and demands things and I vant to crush her!” His fist balled with emphasis and his optics flashed beneath his visor.

Soundwave motioned for the last persona to come through, and he did.

He was grinning and he burst into laughter and doubled over, madly laughing as nothing coherent came from his vocalizer.

After a while, Icy took over once again and shifted in embarrassment. “I did not think zhat vould happen…”

Soundwave just turned away and motioned for him to leave. “Dismissed.” Perhaps he had underestimated Blitzwing. He didn’t think the mech could actually handle being put in the same quarters and _not_ kill her or drive her insane. Of course, it had only been two days.

There was plenty of time for her to break.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Introduction of a new character!!! As much as I love to have fan favorites make cameos or have scenes, I also like to use the under-appreciated characters who never get screen time except for their wild and convoluted appearances in G1 and G2. So, I did a bit of research and found out that Dirge has lightyears of potential for a really awesome character! Hope you guys end up enjoying him as much as I've enjoyed molding him!
> 
> As for Blitzwing, the poor thing just is even worse at socializing than Bobbie. Hopefully it'll get better soon~! ;)


	10. Chapter 10: Ink and Blood

Chapter 10: Ink and Blood

 

Bobbie had started to lose track of time. There was no real schedule for the lights, not that there were any in her cage, so she’d enjoyed a long, what she assumed to be, morning. She’d taken off her dirty, nasty clothing when Blitzwing had come by with a change of clothes. He’d brought mens pajama pants that were too big and a tank top that was way too small. None the less, she’d slipped on the monstrosities, tied them as tight as they’d go, and slipped on the shirt. Her old clothes she’d stuck into her sink to wash, piece by piece. Her jacket was the only thing she’d left out of the process, and that hung on her shoulders as she played with a wooden puzzle-box that bad been stuffed into the pocket of the clothing.

Either Blitzwing had put it there, or some other angel of goodness had, because it was a welcome distraction from the ever present threat of boredom.

She thought about Blitzwing and her mouth quirked in confusion. He’d been so weird that day. Not really nice, per se, but he was definitely less volatile than he had been the day before. It might have just been her imagination, or wishful thinking, but she didn’t squash the hope just yet.

If she could get around to badgering him, she might be able to trick him into letting her out. From there on out, she had no idea what she’d do, but she saved that for later. Her improv was always better than her plans, anyways.

She watched at Blitzwing walked back into the Detention wing, humming to himself. She strained her ears and tried to recognize the tune, but it didn’t come to her. Abandoning her puzzle, she walked over to the front of her cage and watched him hum, his Jack-o-Lantern features in a small, pleased smile as he tapped his foot to the beat.

She just raised a brow at him and smirked. “Something good happen?” she asked.

He looked down at her and his smile got even bigger and he crouched in front of her with a grin. “Oh, I’d say so!” He giggled and looked at her, eyes wide and jagged grin wider. “I get to spend my time vith the cutest human I know! Heehee!”

Bobbie’s expression changed drastically and she stared at him like he’d just spoken in Chinese. “Uh. Yo, Blitz you-”

He squealed as she used a nickname and covered his face, all shy giggles and embarrassed squirming. “She used a nickname!”

“Yes, ve heard it,” Blueface interjected dryly.

“It vas sooooo cute!” Jack-o-lantern turned around and grinned, tapping his fingers on the glass excitedly. “Soooo vhat else do you vant to call me? Anyzhing vould vork!” He silenced in anticipation, still wiggling with his joy.

So he was back to normal after all, all giggles and happiness, without Redface popping out of nowhere. Bobbie just raised her brow at him, “I’ll uh… let you know when I come up with something… but no, seriously, why’re you in such a good mood?”

He shrugged and smiled. “Seeing you makes me happy!”

“It didn’t yesterday… or the day before.”

He waved it off. “Noooo…” he paused before he shifted into awkward embarrassment. “Ok, yes, I vas a hard aft for the past two days. It’s not very nice or kind to do zhat, especially vhen you are so small and I probably scare you so much.” He smiled , a shy little hopeful quirk of his mouth. “So I… vas vondering if you vanted to start over?”

Suddenly Blueface took over and groaned. “You are such a sap, primus.” He stood up, leaving the side of the cage and folded his arms. “It is all up to you,” he added. “I do not mind eizher vay.”

Jack-o-lantern looked back at her and shook his head mouthing, ‘I actually do.’

Blue took over almost immediately and frowned at her.

She just stood there a moment before shrugging, “Eh, why not. I might as well have one… acquaintance and it might as well be you.”

Blue just continued to look at her before he folded his arms. “Not quite the reaction I expected, but I suppose it’ll have to do.”

She shrugged. “What exactly did you expect? Me running around absolutely enthused at you… I don’t know, giving me a peace treaty or truce or whatever?”

He shook his head. “You misunderstand. I don’t vant a truce.” He walked over and leaned over her.  Jack-o-lantern took over and he grinned. “I vant you to be just as feisty as you vere the first day I met you!”

Bobbie raised a brow. “What?”

“Oh, vhen I said zhat zhat’s vhat I like about you, I meant it.” He nodded with matter-of-factness. “It’s refreshing to not be feared.” He leaned his arm againt the ledge of her prison and gently rubbed the glass, mindlessly. His smile became a bit softer and shy. “I vant to be… friends.”

Bobbie tapped the glass. “Then let me out of here.”

Red took over and she flinched, but he just growled. “I can’t let you out, ozhervise I’d have done it already!” He pouted, folding his arms and growling at nothing. “You’re a just prisoner to everyvone else and it is annoying me.”

Just a prisoner? What was that supposed to mean, that he somehow viewed her as something not equal to property or convenience? That he gave a damn what happened to her and how it happened? Was his Redface, the face who had lashed out and scared her nearly to the point of tears, actually admitting to caring about her, in whatever strange screwed up way he did?

Uncertainty took hold of her and Bobbie shifted, rubbing her arms. “And what am I to you?” she asked.

Blitzwing looked at her for a moment, catching her eye before he shifted and glowered at the floor. “… I don’t know.”

It was a fair answer, but offered Bobbie no insight into why he was so determined to be pals with her. She certainly had no plans to go paling around with a Decepticon, even one as momentarily nice like him.

“Then I can’t help you, Bitz. You’re not really friend material, since I’m,” she pointed vaguely around her, “in here. Keeping things in cages make them a little less inclined to be nice, you know?”

Jack-o-Lantern took over and nodded, sadly. He was reserved to that revelation and slowly stood up. “Well, I... I am not going to be mean to you like I vas before,” he assured her. “I mean to be much more pleasant vith you.”

She nodded. “Thanks, that’s real sweet of you.” He just sat in his usual spot, fiddling with a pad that looked suspiciously like a tablet and started to type something in. She couldn’t read it, though. It was in weird, alien hieroglyphics and she had no intention of trying to decipher the madness. So, she sat down in her bed, all wrapped up in her blanket and fiddled with her puzzle.

 

Blitzwing spent the rest of the afternoon entering in a report to Soundwave. It wasn’t due for another solar cycle, but Dirge had suggested writing it before it was due, so he could have more time to look at it and cut out the details he didn’t want to be turning in. Dirge had been doing this charade for centuries, now, Bltizwing knew. He’d watched him turn in lie after lie to his ‘illustrious leader’ Starscream, who hadn’t once caught him in the act.

Blitzwing had watched his friend save a few organics, an Autobot, and even a deserter. Having a compliment of kindness from him was one of the truest compliments anyone could get.

Not that Dirge really had a tendency to lie when he was complimenting, per se. He’d always been very dry in his humor, quick witted and smart that most mechs didn’t even catch his insults. The jabs were designed in a way that they’d go over the individual’s head, and anyone at about the same mental capacity, and would make anyone else within earshot grin audial to audial. Blitzwing had been one of the only mechs to catch the jokes, him and Thundercracker, and they’d had a good time giggling at Skywarp and Starscream’s expenses.

But Dirge, despite his underhanded and deceitful nature, as most of the Decepticons lived, had a touch more compassion and, simultaneously, apathy. He didn’t care all too much about what happened to him. Even if he had gotten into trouble, he’d have taken his punishments like a mech and stood tall throughout the whole execution or public humiliation. Blitzwing had seen it done both ways by the hands of Megatron and Starscream, and neither punishment was merciful. Yet when it came to others, Dirge always seemed to find it in him to ‘forget’ the key to a cage or be ‘confused’ as to who was supposed to lock up last.

Luckily for him, there were plenty of idiots who did the same exact thing at a much more frequent pace, so his few punishments were always less severe than others.

Blitzwing supposed that he was just all in all a very lucky sort of mech, who’d never stuck to the rigid rules of the Decepticons… he would have made a better Autobot… and Blitzwing wasn’t sure if that was as much of an insult as it used to be.

He paused his work and vented out heavily, the exhaust leaving him feeling cleaner and better. His thoughts cleared and Random took over, glancing at Bobbie.

She was still working on cleaning her old clothing. All of it looked grotesque and old, especially the jacket, and he wondered why she kept on wearing it. Wasn’t it… unsanitary to wear these? Wasn’t it unsafe, unhealthy?

He leaned down, watching her work through the little cubby, and she slipped off the jacket to wash.

And he couldn’t stop staring.

Delicate and intricate paint decorated her slight frame, images of flowers and pretty plants. A human saying was written on her shoulder, but it was in a language he didn’t have in his database. The paint was colored in some places, adding a soft blue to the flowers here and a pale green to some leaves there. The design moved up onto her shoulder before meeting a similar design on her other shoulder and spreading back down to her wrist. He’d never seen a human with such… beautiful and delicate designs. He hadn’t even seen a Cybertronian with such beautiful markings since before the war.

He sighed, leaning his head on his hand and grabbing the human’s attention. Bobbie turned to look at him and frowned, shifting uncomfortably. “What?” she asked.

Blitzwing could only smile gently and giggle. “Your paint is so pretty. You have such nice hair and then your designs are so intricate and delicate.” He paused before pointing to her shoulder. “Vhat does it say zhere? On your shoulder?”

Her face only contorted more into confusion and she looked down at her arm before shrugging, “Honor virutis preamium.”

He blinked. “Ah.. but, vhat does it mean? I don’t have vhatever language zhat is in my data-”

“It’s latin,” she interrupted simply. “It means, Honor be the reward of virtue.”

Blitzwing frowned at that statement. He hadn’t had a whole lot of indoctrination before the Decepticons, so he only vaguely remembered a similar teaching from the Autobots. They’d always been considered to be the ‘weaker’ of the two groups because of that mentality that ‘virtues’ like honesty and kindness offered nothing… until you were found out by your superiors and were torn apart in their rage. So far as Blitzwing knew, the only one who had a different opinion was Dirge. Other than that, ruthlessness reigned supreme.

“You look like you’re trying to figure out the theory of relativity there, genius.”

Blitzwing looked up at her, Icy taking control. “Excuse me?”

“You’re thinking really hard and your face was all drawn and serious.” She pointed vaguely at him. “That’s gotta be weird for you when your… uh… Creepy face is always grinning.”

Blitzwing offered her no clarity. His optical enhancer only focused on Bobbie’s tattoos and he began to differentiate the blossoms from one another easier. He knew nothing of flowers, where they grew, or why humans loved them so much. He supposed it was because they were pretty, but aside from that, he had no explanation to offer his inquisitive mind. “Vhat is the purpose of covering yourself in zhese… floral designs?” he asked. He spotted one of her clothing items, a thick shirt, with a similar floral design. “You seem razher fond of zhem, if I am not mistaken.”

“No, you’re not mistaken.” She stopped scrubbing and turned around, folding her arms across her chest in a waning patience sort of way. She was silent, chewing on her lip as she weighed her options of an explanation. Blitzwing was patient and wasn’t really in any mood to rush her, lest he frighten her again. That was the one thing he dearly wanted to avoid at all costs. “Alright, fine,” she said with a resigned air. “I like floral cause my grandmother had a really, really nice garden and took care of it every day. I would have helped her, or started my own after she passed away, but I didn’t have a green thumb and I never had. So, instead of gardening, I’m wearing her favorite flowers.”

He blinked and leaned down, inspecting them. “Vhat flowers are zhose, zhen?”

She smiled gently and looked down at them before pointing to a small, blue flower in large clusters. “Forget-Me-Nots,” she pointed to a few faded white blooms, “Gardenias,” and she pointed to a pink bloom, “and Roses.”

He nodded, quietly thinking to himself. “I see… are zhese your favorites, too?”

Bobbie shrugged. “They remind me of my grandmother, so I wear them for her. They’re all really nice and gardenias smell amazing.”

“Zhat didn’t answer my question, zhough.”

Bobbie rolled her eyes and threw her hands up. “I don’t know? I don’t really pay attention to any other flowers? So, yeah I guess they are?”

“Ah.” He rubbed his chin. “Fascinating. Humans are such sentimental creatures…”

Bobbie shrugs. “Yeah, so what? You big monsters are pretty dimwitted and cruel.”

He frowned. “You have only met zhe bad vones.”

She raised a brow. “What, so now there’s good guys of you?”

He immediately shut up. Humans were to be kept in the dark about the Autobots. It was why they had gone after normal citizens and not the government officials. Keeping the ignorant in ignorance kept their confidence and rebelliousness to weak minimums. If Bobbie new about the invading force she would likely riot.

Blitzwing didn’t want to be at the other end of her wrath, merely because he wanted to be her friend, but he also didn’t want her to be hurt should her little escape plan be ruined. But that… he turned away from her and sat. Why did that sort of thinking make him feel sick? Why did his spark choke on itself?

Why was that way of thinking so wrong?

He heard Bobbie walk over to him and chuckle and he looked down at her. She’d pulled a blanket over her to shield her slight frame from the cold. “So you are just an evil race then? No redeeming factors about you?”

Hothead took over, but he was silent. He looked down at his servos. “… No.” He could hear the hollow acceptance of that. There was nothing redeeming about him. He was selfish. He was cruel. He was controlled by rage and coldness.

Dirge said his spark was naturally gentle and empathetic. Maybe he was wrong.

“Wow, you’re a real ray of sunshine aren’t you?” she asked.

He glanced at her. “Vhat do you mean by zhat?”

“Well, whenever I’ve met people who’re complete and utter assholes, they’re usually pretty delusional, too. Mostly along the lines of ‘there’s nothing wrong with me! I’m perfect! I am better than everyone else in every way and I don’t have to be nice because I’m better!’” Bobbie raised a brow at him. “You’ve just sort of accepted that you’re horrible and there’s nothing else to it.”

He grinded his teeth and turned away. “Because I am. Vhat else is zhere to admit? I am a good mech? I have a good spark? No, I am a Decepticon. Ruthless and angry and cold.” His tone was final and didn’t invite any sort of argument.

The human didn’t say anything else. A thousand untold words hovered between them but he didn’t voice any of them and neither did she. The air grew stifled and stale around them as time wore on. Hid grinding only got worse and worse until finally, Bobbie broke the silence. “Well, if that’s what you think, then that’s what you’ll become, big guy. But you don’t seem too happy, so I’ll just leave you to chew on that for a bit.”

She turned away and returned to scrubbing, humming to herself.

Random stayed silent, uninterested.

Hothead just continued to grind his teeth, frustrated at himself for being such an aft. But it was how he felt. He’d felt like that for a very, very long time, too.

 

Hours later, the lights had been turned off, but Bobbie hadn’t gone to sleep. She hadn’t been tired all day and had busied herself with cleaning and adjusting her bed until it looked half decent. There wasn’t much else she could do and luckily her prison was already clean. She fiddled with her puzzle box, quietly opening it and closing it. A rubix cube might have been better, but she’d have abandoned it years ago. This, at least, was tolerable and the rhythmic opening and closing of all the little compartments kept her from going crazy.

She wanted to get out. She wanted to go someplace that wasn’t her little cubicle room. There was a big prison room just before her! Why couldn’t she go out there? There weren’t really places for her to hide in!

Oh right. She wasn’t a slave, she was in the detention facility for taking care of a girl and defending herself…

She looked up, glancing around to see if Blitzwing was around. He’d left some time before, but she was still going to check. She stood up and walked over, peering into the darkness to see if she could spot someone. Other than the emergency lights, or whatever the bots called them, there was nothing.

But the dimness added a ghostly feel to the massive room and she shifted from one foot to the other. This whole place was unnerving beginning with the robots and ending with the massively alien feel they left in their wakes.

Suddenly, the door snapped a little, and a sliver of light seeped into the room.

Bobbie had never seen the door do that, and she backed away from the glass.

“Humaaaaaaaaan…” the voice was monstrous and grating and all too familiar. “I’m going to rip you apart!”

Bobbie had nowhere to run, nowhere to hide and she was stuck, locked in this damned cage! She looked back at the bathroom, but that would only be a temporary hiding spot until the stupid mech noticed that this was the only cell with furnishings! And there was way too much to drag into the very limited space.

She sent a silent curse to Blitzwing for leaving her alone and giving her so many damn blankets!

The door caved in and an alarm went off, shrieking before something collided with something else metal and it silenced. Panic set in and Bobbie froze.

“It’s just you and me, whelp. I’m going to tear you limb from limb and then crush you!” He stalked down the line of prison cells and Bobbie looked around helplessly.

She had no weapon.

She had no hiding spot.

And she had nowhere to run…

_Unless…_

Bobbie calmed her erratic breath and heartbeat and did her best to remain calm. If she pulled this right she could do it.

Why hadn’t she been going to the gym or participating in parkour gigs?

“Humannn,” he stopped at her cage and leaned down, smiling wickedly. “There you are~.”

Bobbie tensed, her muscles taunt and her heart pounding in her chest. _Stay calm…_ she reminded herself. _Stay calm._

He crouched down in front of her and his red eyes glowed maliciously. “What? Nothing smart to say now?” His clawed finger tapped against the glass, before digging in and scraping across the surface, drawing a ragged line across her. “I’m gonna make you scream.”

Bobbie smirked. “You’ll be disappointed. I don’t have a real pretty voice.”

His smile just got worse and he reached to open the cage. “I’ll enjoy ripping out that confidence.”

Bobbie’s panic started again and it demanded she run for it now, run for it and get closer and get  out that much faster, but she didn’t. She waited for that perfect opportunity. The glass pulled away and his hand slipped through, claws reaching for her. _One, two-_

She bolted, jumping straight over his talons and landing on his arm. She pushed off of him and slipped beneath his other sweeping hand. Then she was on the ledge and she took off, her legs pumping faster than they’d pumped in nine years. She felt the old adrenaline flood her veins and her panic was overwritten.

It was the chase now.

She heard him scream at her in his own glitchy language and he chased her, a step behind her all the way. She dodge when he swiped, his hand grazing her foot. Her balance was swayed just enough and she landed on her feet with a hint of a wobble. That was one millisecond closer to him and her and it made her move all the quicker as she moved to swing down a level. He was too clumsy and he rammed into the upper level, showering her in debris, but it was all the better for her. She put enough distance between her and him before she dropped down to the next level-

Pain shot through her back and all of the air in her lungs left her. She fell hard onto her side and jerked, her spine twisting in pain and agony.

“Lucky for you, that was a low level blast,” he growled, walking over to her with a dangerous look in his eyes. “I could have easily destroyed you in one go, but…” he crouched over her, grinning as he poked her wound.

She gasped in pain, her eyes watering.

“It’s so much more fun to watch you writhe~.”

“Oh, really?”

A hand shot out from behind Barricade and yanked it back, metal fingers digging into his optics and pulling back his neck at a painful angle. Blitzwing was snarling, Red at the wheel, and he grinded his teeth. “I’ll make sure she enjoys your pain for tvice as long, partner.”

He threw him across the room, an easy toss, and Bobbie felt the tremors as the mech hit the floor. Blitzwing didn’t look at her as he spread his legs in a protective fighting stance.

Barricade slowly got to his feet, dented and sore. He rubbed his face as pink dribbled from his mouth and he snarled. “You fragger! Who’s side are you on?!”

Blitzwing cracked his neck. “Didn’t Soundvave tell you to leave her alone?”

“Slag Soundwave!” His arm transformed, turning into a weapon. “I’m going to kill her!”

Blitzwing laughed, and Bobbie shuddered at the shrill, raucous voice. “Ohhhh, so you zhink you are going to do zhat?” he giggled as he started to walk towards him. “But how are you going to do zhat if you cannot even valk?”

Barricade only got out an offended syllable before Blitzwing lunged. Without any effort, the mech’s new leg was torn off, and Barricade screamed. He tripped, pink gushing from the lost leg and from his hip and he fell back into his own puddle. “See now, zhis is vhy you don’t mess vith zhings zhat are not your business!” Blitzwing stomped on Barricade’s face, pinning him to the ground, and leaned over his other foot. “Hmmm,” Blue was in charge now, “Should I cripple you? Make you useless?”

From under his foot came a muffled plea, an ashamed beg for mercy, but it fell on deaf ears. Bobbie could hear the creaking as he started to pull at Barricade’s joint. “Maybe I vill just tear off your leg.”

More begging. More creaking.

A few snaps echoed through the hall and Bobbie looked away… but the screams were enough. She felt them in her bones and images accompanied the tightening in her chest. Her eyes were wide and she trembled, fear roaring through her.

_Monsters._

That’s all they were. They were horrible and terrible and sadistic. It was the gangs all over again. She wanted to vomit. _Kill or be killed-_

“Bobbie?”

She snapped out of her fever and snapped to look at him. He was walking towards her, concern in his black face. She backed away from him as he approached, shaking. “ _Don’t_ c-come near me!”

Blitzwing stopped, his jagged smile fading. And then, all at once his expression was something entirely different, foreign on any of his face. The jagged mouth had turned upside down and his eyes went wide. He looked like he was near tears, but she didn’t care.

She didn’t care.

“Bobbie-”

“ _Don’t touch me_!”

“He vas going to kill you-”

“ ** _And you don’t have to rip him apart_**!”

He took another step back, his expression pained and horrified and he lifted his hands in apology.

Bobbie shrieked at the sight of the pink mess around his hands and she tried to get up to run from him, but the pain seared through her spine, she saw white, and she fell. She heard him yell her name, worry woven into every syllable, and she felt him hover over her. She wasn’t able to do anything but feel him slowly pick her up before the pain wracked through her again and she blacked out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> DUN DUN DUUUUUUUUUUN
> 
> Blitzwing, ripping people apart isn't a human mating ritual, I promise. (I am so sorry for my lack of any sort of decency and respect for my own painful scenes I am a terrible human being I know)


	11. Chapter 11: Veterinarians and Glitches

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one is a pretty hard to read one, guys, ahah, it was DEFINITELY hard to write. Fair warning: it's sad. Keep the tissues close by and the chocolate closer.

Chapter 11: Veterinarians and Glitches

 

He only had a little time. Time enough to ball up comforters and make it look like she’d stayed asleep, never even bothered. He’d had time to clean his hands before that, but barely. Panic made time seem so much faster, so much more volatile. He knew he should be there when they picked up the Barricade, still barely online, though he’d gone unconscious. The puddle was getting bigger around him and with each gallon joining the pool, Blitzwing felt his Energon lines get colder and colder.

His panic tore through his spark as he held the fragile little human in his servos, rushing through the compound. It wasn’t a long trip, not to where he was headed, but he didn’t want anyone to see him.

He was vulnerable. For the first time in a long, _long_ time, he was vulnerable. He’d felt his spark shatter at the thought of seeing her so scared of him and the pain still throbbed through his chassis. She’d been afraid of him. Truly afraid. The fright when he’d lashed out at her before was nothing in comparison to the sheer terror in her eyes as she’d screamed at him.

As she’d scuttled away from him and tried to run.

But his own pain was outweighed only by his fear for her. Barricade wasn’t renowned for intelligence, let alone his ability to control himself. For all Blitzwing knew, she could be at the well of Allsparks now. He didn’t want to think about that, of losing her when he had so much to say to her still. But he didn’t know a thing about healing his own species, let alone the fragile organic in his servos.

Knockout wouldn’t know. Knockout wouldn’t care. No, he needed a doctor who would actually care. Someone who wouldn’t break her and who would set her out whole and undamaged.

He needed a human doctor.

He burst out of the main building and into the cold. He felt his joints protest at the sudden change of weather, but he pressed on, forcing his frame to heed him. The path to the hum settlement was short and unblocked, right in the open, but there were no sentries. These winer nights were too cold for Decepticons to bother using manpower. So, he ran to the blocked in section of the city where humans still lived, surrounded by towering walls. He hopped over it without any trouble, and he felt his frame begin to tremble.

“Humans! I need a doctor!”

It was dead quiet in the human abodes. Only the sorrowful whistle of the wind answered him, and its mournful call was nothing but torment. Not one human went out to meet him in the darkness. Not one volunteered.

“No, no! Please! I need your help!” He stumbled further into the buildings, his frame violently shaking. Silence continued to echo through the camp, and he saw a few lights turn off. Pain wracked through his systems and he felt something ultimately foreign invade all of his being. Fear took hold of him and he curled around her, desperate.

“Please!” he collapsed onto his knees, cradling Bobbie in his hands. His spark felt like it was being crushed in a burning grip. His body shook with the pressure and he felt his fuel lines threaten to burst. “She’s going to die…”

He sat there for what felt like forever. He shivered in the cold, feeling his spark grow dim as his hope ebbed away. She could die. She could die in his servos all because he’d been stupid and left her alone. Because he’d been enraged at Barricade for hurting her… because when he’d seen her fall he’d been terrified that she wouldn’t get up again. _Terrified._

He looked at Bobbie, limp and pale. _You terrify me…_ _You scare me more than Megatron ever did,_ his pollex digit rubbed her cheek, gently, and his spark twisted. _How can something so small fill me with fear so successfully as you have?_

His other components offered him no insight and remained silent. So he would lose her tonight. She would fade in his hand and there was nothing he could do.

His spark almost flickered out at that thought. It was too much to bear-

“Come on, you big Decepticon _Abruti_! I’m gonna kick your aft!”

The threat startled Blitzwing, quite suddenly and he jerked up, frowning at the fast approaching human. “Vhat?”

“I’m gonna dent your bumper-!”

Behind the approaching assailant, a woman had snatched her hood and yanked her back, frowning fiercely at the girl. “Idiot! This is the last straw! I’ve about had it with you picking fights with these monsters!”

“If I don’t beat ‘em up who will?” she lashed about in the woman’s grip, but she didn’t let up. She just glowered, her frown as fierce as Hothead’s.

The elder woman looked up at Blitzwing and frowned at him. “She’s an excitable little thing, isn’t she?” she asked, shaking the human. “I’m sorry. You can uh, go about your-“

“No! No vait!” Blitzwing offered them a weak attempt at a friendly smile and opened his hands, showing them Bobbie. “She needs help.”

The girl who’d previously been lashing stopped and shoved the woman away and fearlessly hopped into his hands. She checked out the girl, looking her over and flinched at the wound on her back. “Yo, Petty, she looks pretty messed up.”

Petty, the woman with the formidable scowl walked over, much more hesitant, and looked her over. She sucked in her lower lip, an uncertain expression spreading across her features.

“Can you help her?” the girl asked.

Petty looked up at Blitzwing, who smiled a little bigger, but felt no ease in his spark. “I think I can,” she admitted. “We’ll need to bring her in as soon as possible, though.”

Blitzwing nodded, a sliver of hope shining through his spark. “Where do I need to take her?”

Petty motioned to the girl, who hopped out of his servos. “Follow us. There’s an old abandoned clinic down the road. No one moved into it.”

“Vhy?” Blitzwing asked. “Are you zhe only doctor?”

Petty looked back at him and glared. “I’m not a doctor. I’m a veterinarian. I fix cats and dogs and make sure they’re not hurt.” She stuffed her hands into her coat pockets, adding bitterly. “Any doctor around here wouldn’t be stupid enough to offer themselves to you monsters.”

Blitzwing flinched at the way she spat out the insult. He knew he was a monster, but it was different being called one by a human. It felt so much more…

_Personal_.

“But vill you be able to help Bobbie?” he asked. “I don’t vant her to die.”

“Oh, so you’re on first name basis?” the girl asked, grinning at him. “Is she your friend?”

He didn’t respond. After what he’d done… how she reacted to him, there was no way she’d be his friend. Not ever.

“…But, no seriously, friends?”

Blitzwing glared at her.

“Brittany,” Petty growled, “stop antagonizing him. He’s actually being polite and I don’t feel like getting squashed because of you.”

“If you are zhe only human who vill help my human, I vouldn’t risk hurting you.” He looked at the girl. “Your companion, on zhe ozher hand, is not so lucky.”

Petty didn’t offer any more conversation, and Brittany only stuck her tongue out and ran ahead. “I’ll get the clinic set up. You know, the lights and all.”

Petty waved her off, silent permission and they were left alone.

It gave Blitzwing a moment long enough to study this new human. She was stouter than Bobbie, with graying hair and slight wrinkles. She wore a thick woolen shawl and a heavy jacket of the same fabric, and big, clunky boots that made noises audible from even Blitzwing’s gargantuan stature. Another human he could possibly respect.

The reached the clinic, a squat building amongst the other apartment structures, and Patty hollered inside for Brittany. She popped up a minute later, some sort of gurney in her hands. “Help me get the girl inside.”

Blitzwing hesitantly offered the wounded girl in his servos to them and they laid her out on the metal table and pulled her inside. “We’ll do everything we can,” Petty insisted. And then they disappeared behind the doors.

Blitzwing was left in the cold, still shaking. He took as much comfort as he could in the fact that she was now in the hands of a human doctor… or… veterinarian. Whatever that was. At least she was willing to help.

He sat back, rubbing his face in exhaustion and he let out a long, heavy vent. He didn’t feel much cleaner afterwards, but he supposed that was just his spark.

He felt wretched. He felt like a monster, not for the first time.

A few agonizing minutes passed and he heard the door open. His head shot up, hoping to see Bobbie alive and well, but Brittany frowned at him, her arms folded. “So, you hurt her?”

Blitzwing’s engines roared and Hothead took over, snarling viciously. “ _You **dare** ask me if I’d **hurt** her?! I vould sooner **die** zhan lift my fist against her!”_

Brittany backed away only an inch and cursed in French, one of the few human dialects Blitzwing had actually bothered to download. “Dude, chill. It was a question not an accusation.”

“I do not take kindly to stupid questions being asked of me!”

Brittany rolled her eyes. “Whatever, dude. I was just asking cause she’s barely even wounded.”

Blitzwing stared at her. “Vhat?”

“Ok, so… I have no idea how this works or anything, but Petunia said she was wearing a really thick jacket which absorbed some of the blow, which wasn’t really that strong, and it singed her enough to send her into some sort of shock? That’s why she fainted. The wound itself is like a second degree burn, so she’s not going to die, but running from angry robot’s is probably _not_ gonna be on her to do list for the next three weeks.”

Blitzwing’s spark finally came undone, the knot in it released and his joints relaxed. He closed his optics, a small, gentle smile on his face. “Zhank Primus.”

He opened his optics again to find the human scrutinizing him, her expression suspicious and analyzing. “You really care about her don’t you?”

He frowned. “Vhy don’t you mind your own business, human?”

She shrugged. “Why would I? I have giant robots micromanaging my life and threatening me every day. Might as well learn something interesting for once.”

Blitzwing just glowered at her before Icy took over. “Vhy is it so imperative zhat you learn about my life? If you are so interested, vhy not ask Bobbie?”

“… See, you keep on using her name and not just calling her ‘human’ or ‘fleshie’ or ‘meatbag,’ so I’m pretty sure you like her. Not sure how much on a scale of one to ten, but it’s probably at least a six.”

Blitzwing rolled his optics and sat. “Leave me alone, _organic_ , I’m getting tired of you.”

“Oh but like, there’s so much more to how you were treating her, though, I mean you were basically cradling her in your arms and then you looked like you were gonna cry, which totally made me sad, lemme tell you and how…”

Blitzwing tuned her out and rested his helm on his servo, glaring at nothing. Frag, this was going to be the longest wait ever.

 

Bobbie slowly woke up, lying on her belly. She felt her dazed and her body throbbed, but it was nothing compared to the pain in her spine. She tried to move, but her back rebelled and she hissed. “Shit-”

“Don’t move, stupid,” a voice said from behind her, “you have a serious burn back there and it’s best if you don’t move until the painkillers kick in.” A cool hand rested on her forehead and Bobbie looked up, meeting the face of a serious looking woman wearing a rather grim expression. “You can thank your robot friend for bringing you here.”

Bobbie frowned. “What fr-” Blitzwing. She meant Blitzwing. She rubbed her head, letting out a heavy breath. “Damn… where am I?”

“In a clinic in the human ‘settlement’ as they like to call it. It’s just a prison where we all get to talk to each other and wish everything was back to normal. Almost miss how shitty this city used to be. Miss the pickpockets and the traffic and the jaywalkers… Name’s Petunia, by the way, but you can call me Petty.”

“Bobbie, nice to meet you.” She shifted and hissed, the pain still intense. “Shit…” she took a moment to recall her limited memory of what happened before she’d blacked out, and her mood blackened. “What happened?”

“He came running into the settlement like a panicked puppy and begged for a doctor. None of the bastards came out and the stupid girl living with me decided to pick a fight with him, so I was forced into getting involved. He begged me to help and… I couldn’t leave you like that.”

She turned away and frowned. “Did he yell at you?”

“No, he was… uncharacteristically civil. I’ve seen him running around a lot. Asked the woman down the street for a blanket the other day. That… creepy face of his is usually smiling, but he was… not when he approached us.”

Bobbie glanced at her. “Was he upset?”

“You can say that. I’ve never seen one of those monsters so scared in my life.”

Bobbie snorted. “As if he’s got anything to be scared about. I’m just a human he could squash under his heel if he ever wanted to... that’s all I am to him.”

“Nahhh, I don’t think he thinks of you like that at all!” Bobbie looked towards the new voice and her brow flew up. She had deep blue hair, she noticed that first, and was decked out in surprisingly fashionable winter clothing that fit the sombre air of their current situation. Black on black on black, every layer dour and foreboding. Except for her personality. “He seems like he’s got some weird crush on you, too. Got mad at me when I asked.”

Bobbie rubbed her eyes. “You’re an idiot.”

“Why? Cause I think he likes you?”

“No-… well, yes, but that’s not what I meant! Don’t go around messing with the cons or you’ll get hurt! Piss off the wrong one and he’ll go after your family, too!”

She completely ignored Bobbie, who bristled, and she started to count off points, “Blitz called you by name and just sorta referred to me as ‘human,’ he got mad when I asked him if he hurt you, and said he’d rather die than cause you pain, and then when I asked him if he cared about you, he totally ignored me.” She put her hands on her hips. “That doesn’t really sound like a bad guy thing to do.”

Bobbie glowered at her. “You don’t know him.”

The girl shrugged. “Alright, fine, think what you want, but I’ll bet you fifty bucks you go out there and he apologizes for whatever he did to piss you off or whatever.”

“Money is worthless now,” Bobbie argued stiffly. “And I don’t gamble.”

“Britt, stop,” For the love of God, stop. It’s enough that you pick fights with the damned bastards. Don’t antagonize my patient.”

Britt opened her mouth to protest and Bobbie sat up, glaring at her. “Listen, kid. Those… monsters are nothing more than that. Monsters. They don’t care about us, they don’t care about each other. They’re wolves and they’ll kill each other with less than a thought and devour each other to get what they want, does that get through your thick freaking skull or do I have to beat it into you?”

The pain in her back was only outweighed by the pain in her chest. It hurt her to say that, he had tried so hard, but enough was enough. She wasn’t going to be a toy to play mind games with. She wasn’t going to let him get inside her head and then crush her heart. She’d had enough of that over the years.

It was the end of the world. She didn’t have to be nice to anyone. She didn’t have to let them in.

She didn’t have to have a heart anymore.

Petunia walked over and tried to ease her back onto the gurney. “Bobbie, you should really rest-”

“I’m fine, dammit, don’t touch me,” she pushed herself to sit up and hung her legs over the side. “Give me my jacket.”

“It was completely destroyed, burned right through… it’s gone.”

Bobbie’s face drained. That was the only thing she had to remember Ted… to remember Renee. She’d had nothing else, no trinkets, no photos, nothing. And now that was gone, too. What couldn’t she loose here? What couldn’t she have taken from her? What would they take next?

“I have a spare jacket for you-”

“Just give me a damn sweater or something, I’ll live.”

Petunia frowned, her concerned expression growing gentle. “Bobbie, I know this is going to be hard for you to do, but please listen to me.”

Bobbie heard a hint of sarcasm in her words, and she glared, but offered no sign to stop her.

“You’re in a tight situation. You’ve been hurt by one of those Robots and now you’re being helped by another, but you can’t blame him for what happened-”

“I’m not blaming him for anything, Petty,” she growled. “Blitzwing ripped his own partner apart. He _ripped him apart._ He didn’t even feel bad about it! And then he just left him there to die! He’s a monster!”

Petunia frowned. “He begged a human to help him help a human. I know you’re new here, but a Decepticon doesn’t beg. They especially don’t beg humans for anything. They order and they bully and they threaten. He did none of these.”

“And that gives him brownie points?” Bobbie snorted. “As if I’d-”

Britt shoved a sweater between the two of them, interrupting and startling Bobbie. “Hey, I got you your sweater and you should also really stop being a bitch. He’s cool. He wasn’t even that mean to me, fairly polite even. So stop it, put on the damn sweater, and listen to Petty, k?”

Bobbie snatched the sweater, but when he turned her most fierce snarl at Britt, she was smiling. It wasn’t one of those shy, small smiles that Renee would give her whenever she wanted something or was embarrassed, this one was a full on grin. How could she smile? How could she grin? It wasn’t even mocking just… a genuine smile.

“Why are you smiling?” she asked.

“Well, one, cause I think it’s cool that he’s so chill and also totally has a crush on you, and also because you’re his prisoner right? I heard Knockout talking about you the other day! Said you’re a mute or rude and got all prickly when he talked about Blitzwing, too. I think it’s totally cool how you put the smack down on one of those stupid robots!”

Bobbie rolled her eyes and silenced. “Yeah, I did it to defend myself, that’s all. I had a little girl with me and I didn’t want him to get his hands on her.”

“That’s still really cool, though.”

She flinched. “It’s not cool to hurt someone. It’s not cool to fight people and it’s not cool to go around bragging about what you have and haven’t done.”

“I mean, yeah, those are dick things to do, but I like to cause them a little havoc, myself, hehe. Making their lives hell is awesome!”

Bobbie turned on her and glared. “You don’t get it, brat. It’s not about hurting them, it’s not about causing them pain, it’s about what you do that gets rubbed off on your hands, ok?! I don’t like to hurt people but I do if I have to and it sucks when shit goes bad, ok? I hate it here, I hate being locked up and alone with only a psycho robot to accompany me. I hate being lied to and manipulated and hurt and poked and prodded and everything that’s happened to me since I’ve been here!” Bobbie felt her eyes burn and she paused, gritting her teeth in enraged agony. “I want to get away but I can’t. I’m losing my damn mind and he’s not helping me any! I watched a robot get torn apart in defense of me and I wasn’t able to do a damn thing about it!”

Realization hit her. Bobbie stared at the girl for a moment before she just shook her head and looked away. Sure, it was wrong to blame him. Sure, it was wrong to point all the guilt at him and make him out to be the monster when he’d done what he did in defense of her…

But it was for that very reason that it made her feel so queasy. It wasn’t that he’d made her scared, it wasn’t that he’d done it without any remorse, it was because he’d done it for her. _For her._ She hated that. She didn’t want anyone’s blood on her hands. It was one thing to defend herself, it was another to rip apart another living being. She’d had her fill of useless violence.

She didn’t want it anymore.

“Bobbie, I-”

 “I should go,” she pushed past Britt, who wanted to continue, but she ignored her. “I’d rather not start a manhunt should they find out I’m not in my cell.”

“So, you’re just going to go back?”

Bobbie paused in the doorway and looked back at her, her eyes cold. “I have to. Whether I like it or not, I have to.”

She walked out of the room and found her own way to the front door. For a while, she was lost, and she took the opportunity to think.

He reminded herself of her. A long, long dead her. She’d buried that Bobbie when she’d returned to her Grandmother’s house. That Bobbie was cold and angry and violent. She was a murderer and a heartless bitch. She was a monster.

Bobbie paused in the hall, her heart sinking. She had been a monster just like him. At one point she’d just accepted it as a fact of life and moved on. And to think that just five minutes before she’d thought of going right back into that mindset. It was so easy. It was so easy to harden her heart and block out everyone else. It was so easy to turn around and return to that monstrous personality. It made everything hurt less when you were more powerful and apathetic than everyone else.

She swallowed a lump in her throat and wrapped her arms closer around her.

Blitzwing wasn’t a monster… no, he was just confused and scared.

He probably had his own walls that he’d built up to become what he was.

Maybe that’s what his polarizing personalities were.

Red was angry and vengeful and lashed out at everything, puffing out his chest whenever someone insulted him and beating them down.

Blue was cold and disinterested, highly intelligent and seemingly apathetic.

His jagged face, though… she had no idea what that was. Perhaps it was a mask of hilarity, mad giggles and laughter to cover up who he really was.

Or maybe Bobbie was looking too deep into the mind of a madman.

She rubbed her head and paced. “Shit, shit, shit, stop it!”

_Ok! Ok… try to see how he reacts to being accused or whatever and go from there. If we die, we die, that’s it._ She took a deep, calming breath, before she continued her search for the front.

After a while, and a bit more soul searching that offered her no insight into Blitzwing’s and her complex relationship, she found the front door. She walked out and hissed at the cold, the wind biting into her. It was so much better with the jacket… oh well. Soon she’d either be dead or in her cell.

“Frauline?” Bobbie paused, the small and uncertain voice slicing through a few heartstrings of hers. She looked up at him, meeting his red eye with a steely one.

“You clean up the mess?” Bobbie asked, her voice hollow.

He flinched and looked away. The simple action hurt Bobbie more than she cared to admit. “I… I made it look like you vere in your bed… rolled up in a blanket… and had zhe ozhers pick him up to take him to zhe infirmary.”

“So he’s not dead?”

He glanced at her, fear in ever red feature of his face. “N-no.”

“I bet he wishes he was.”

He shrunk back, looking down at his clenched hands and he trembled.

The mech trembled. He’d never done that.

“Bobbie, I… I did not mean to scare you-”

“You meant to tear him apart.”

Blitzwing covered his face, rubbing it before he looked back at her, and whispered, in the gentlest, most sincere and sane voice she’d ever heard him use. “I am sorry.”

Bobbie’s eyes widened at that. “What?”

“Bobbie I am so sorry.” His head dropped into his hands again, trembling. “It’s all I know… attack, attack, attack!” He jumped up and started to pace, his shoulders jerking and eyes wide. “Zhey drill it into you and make you zhink zhat you have no friends, no vone who cares, so it’s all about you. You destroy or be destroyed. A mech makes you angry, you avenge yourself a zhousand-fold! And vhen I heard zhe alarm and saw him shoot you-” He silenced, staring at her.

Bobbie could see the torment. She watched him as he fussed, rubbing his helm and pace, his words jumbled and quick, how he’d stumble over a word until it finally came out. He was in literal pain right then and there as he apologized and tried to explain himself.

It would have been so easy to tell him to shut up. To call him a monster. It would be so easy to damn him right there and walk away from him… but all he’d wanted was to be friends.

Bobbie thought back to her time with the gangs, how they’d sworn to be a family, but it was just a group of teenagers and ruthless men living for themselves and taking advantage of everyone else. She remembered the loneliness and the pain. The longing for her Grandmother’s home. She’d wanted to go back so many times but had felt too ashamed.

The nightmares had stopped haunting her, but she never forgot her crimes. The blood was dry, but the stains would never leave. She’d had her Grandmother’s love to thank for that. She’d tried for years to scrub away the blood before the old woman had shown her how fruitless it was. _“Leave the stain. It’ll remind you what you’ve done and how you can be better. It doesn’t need to disappear.”_ She’d remembered that. For so long she’d reminded herself of that that she didn’t even need to think about it.

Maybe for Blitzwing, the blood was so deep and wet he was drowning in it.

Anger controlled his life and hate reigned supreme over all of them.

So Bobbie did the stupidest thing she’d ever done in her life, to that specific date. “Blitzwing.”

He froze, joints creaking with his pained immobility. He slowly looked at her, sheer terror on his face. _That’s not a monster._

She walked over to him, silent the tenseness in her body leaving her. He shook as she approached, flinching every so often. When she reached his foot, she motioned for him to come down. He did, slowly, still fearfully, but he obeyed. It was enough. When he’d crouched, a good twenty feet above her, she started to climb his body, easily using the seams in his legs to get on top of his knee. Then, she grabbed his face, made him look at her, and smiled.

“I forgive you.”

It was as if the whole world had silenced just for those three words. His whole face seemed to loosen and get bigger. His eyes were wide and mouth slightly agape. She smiled gently, patting his face before his big eyes closed and he grabbed her, picking her up as he started to cry. The liquid was thick and heavy, and kind of gross, but she let it get on her anyways and just hugged him.

She laughed a little at him and his melodrama. “You big dumbass, I only forgave you!”

“I v-v-v-vas sc-scared you’d hhhh-h-hate me!” he sobbed, his voice crackling and glitching.

Bobbie just shook her head. “I tried. I failed.”

He shook all the more and continued to cry, his soft sobs and glitching vocalizations just quiet little exchanges between her and him.

So this was the real Blitzwing…

She liked him a lot better than the one she’d met before.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WHOO GLAD I GOT THROUGH THAT HELLHOLE. From here on out, it's much smoother sailing, I promise. And I'll probably be adding some art of mine to the chapters! (cause I'll BE ABLE TO SHARE THE CUTE STUFF) 
> 
> I have been waiting so long.
> 
> My time has come.


	12. Chapter 12: A New Addition

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this one took so long! I've been a little sidetracked and this chapter just... did not want to be written, ahaha. Hopefully the next one will be easier! (until i trudge through these chapters I didn't actually plan through, I'll probably be a bit slower so please bear with me! QAQ I have not and will not abandon this fic!

Chapter 12: A New Addition

 

Blitzwing entered Soundwave’s quarters, his back straight and chest puffed. Icy watched Soundwave, who didn’t turn to him as he continued to sort through reports, but the tension was already there. The door closed behind him, and he felt constricted.

Hothead would have been dancing from foot to foot, ready to defend himself, and Random was already fretting over Bobbie and how they would deal with her if Soundwave knew that he’d let her near the other humans. She didn’t seem like she’d made friends with them, since he didn’t see them after she’d come out, and she hadn’t said much, so it wouldn't really be an issue... but Soundwave wouldn't see it that way.

Mostly all she’d done was help him to stop leaking, which he was very thankful for. It was hard to stop a bot once they’d started. The burst fluid lines didn’t take very long for their natural repair systems to fix, unlike fuel lines, but they were still a pain in the aft. He was just glad no one but Bobbie had seen it.

He’d have never lived it down had it been a fellow Con.

“Blitzwing.”

He stood at attention, drawn out of his thoughts and returned Soundwave’s unusually cold glare evenly. “Yes sir?”

“Report.”

Blitzwing blinked uncertainly at him, but he didn’t allow himself to waste time. “Barricade has claimed a series of threats towards zhe human since she has arrived and even before. I vas vary of him, but I wasn’t sure he vould be stupid enough to actually attack zhe human vhile she vas in my care. Zhe alarms vent off for long enough for me to hear zhem and I vent to investigate.”

Blitzwing glowered as Hothead took over, who grounded his teeth in real anger. “Instead of zhe prisoner escaping I saw him attempting to attack her. She is _my_ prisoner and she is _my_ mission. He said, _verbatim_ , ‘Slag Soundvave’ vhen I inquired into his permission to dispatch zhe human, so I punished him!” He grinded his teeth and made a show of clenching his fists. “I vould have fragged him if it vasn’t zhat he is a half decent partner!”

Soundwave launched at him, his servo grabbing his throat before he could react and dragging him down, a bundle of sensitive wires and cables in his clenched fist. “Liar,” he accused, his voice glitching.

Panic flodded Blitzwing, his spark twisted, but Soundwave continued, “Blitzwing: reported previously a _strong_ dislike in reference to Barricade. Conclusion: Blitzwing attacked Barricade out of spite. Blitzwing: third warning will not be issued.” Soundwave got very close to Blitzwing and his grip turned to iron, the pain setting his vision haywire. “Continued misdemeanors will result in reassignment to Starscream.”

Blitzwing pulled away, “N-no! I didn’t-”

“Further lies will _not_ be **_tolerated_**.”

Blitzwing silenced. It was futile to argue with Soundwave, but even if he claimed that it wasn’t an intentional attack, what else could he claim it to be? Bobbie was only a human to everyone else. Defending her would be… unheard of and suspicious. Should the others find out about his affections for the fleshling, he would be reexamined and she would be exterminated. He didn’t want that to happen. No matter what. So, he nodded, relaxing in Soundwave’s grip. His commanding officer let him go with a small shove. “Detention sector’s doors will be repaired. Bring in report at midday.”

“Yes, Sir.”

Soundwave turned from him, returning to his reports with a stiff and impatient air. Blitzwing quickly left, not willing to test his superior’s patience. He walked out, feeling a rush of relief and anxiety fill him.

Bobbie would be safe, kept out of suspicions. No one had found out about their rendezvous outside and she would be free to recover on her own. Her back was bad, at least pain-wise, and she had quickly expressed her discomfort when he’d touched the affected area of her back. He’d felt miserable afterwards, but she hadn’t taken it badly and had moved on. He’d been careful to avoid the patch until he’d dropped her off in her cage.

Now that the suspicion was off of her, though… he couldn’t knowingly keep a friend locked up like she was. Sure, she was a human and wild and likely filled with little tricks to get away, but she was nice and wasn’t treating him like a monster anymore. Whatever she saw in him, she wasn’t scared of it… even if he was scared. If push came to shove… would he side with her?

Or would he allow her to be killed?

The very thought made his tanks churn and he paused to keep his engines from gurgling. The last thing he needed was the other mech’s thinking he’d gotten slag in his fuel lines.

 _No, we just have a human plaguing us,_ Hothead growled. _She’s causing us nothing but trouble! I say we give her to someone else to deal with!_

Random balked. _No! She is our friend! Ever heard of that?! She’s not mean to us and she doesn’t go calling us a monster! She even hugged us!_

_Yeah? So what? She’s obviously delusional or broken! I wouldn’t trust her with my back, let alone my spark, lover-bot._

Icy could feel Random’s anger at his component’s impatience and dismissal of Bobbie, and he decided to chime in. _Vasn’t it you who defended the human?_ He asked Hothead. _You wouldn’t waste your time on a human like that if you were only going to toss her aside when it got more difficult to take care of her._

_I’m just saying it’d be a whole lot fragging easier, wouldn’t it!?_

_I’d rather die than leave her on her own here._

Random’s final words echoed within the other components and they all silenced. No one argued with him or raised more concerns. He didn't care about how hard it would be. He didn't care about how inconvenient it would be, either. She was his human and he would watch over her and protect her and treat her like a friend, not a lesser being. That was the final word. Icy remained in control, though he barely managed to keep Random in check before he finally reached the Detention facility. There was already a team fixing the door, but they all froze when he approached and they all gave him a very wide berth when he passed by them.

All three components bristled at them. He’d preferred them to ignore him, but apparently their wariness had only gotten worse. Ripping off a mech’s legs would do that, but he hated it still. He passed Bobbie’s cage, letting her sleep, and instead stopped in front of his assigned monitor and began to finish his report.

 _So, what,_ Hothead asked impatiently, _now we wait for them to leave?_

 _We give her time to think and breathe and heal,_ Icy replied. _Perhaps her action of being kind to us was only a display of pity._

Hothead growled at that. _It better not have-_

_It wasn’t._

Icy paused at Random’s second display of uncharacteristic assuredness and finality.

_Are you-_

_It wasn’t pity._

_But-_

_**It wasn’t pity**._

Random seemed to be getting angry and they all silenced, allowing him this victory. Random’s anger was something none of them enjoyed experiencing, including Random himself. Hothead was angry and vengeful and impatient, but Random…

Random became something out of a nightmare and everyone knew it.

It was why he was so feared. And it was why Blitzwing feared himself.

Yet he was willing to breach that line of control to defend Bobbie’s sincerity. It wasn’t logical or wise, yet none of them truly seemed to be able to argue against him or his stubborn refusal to think beyond Bobbie. It was as if none of them even wanted to.

 _Peculiar…_ Icy whispered to himself.

It was peculiar indeed.

 

Bobbie slept for what felt like forever. She’d swaddled herself in blankets and had lain on top of the polar bear, enjoying the feeling of warmth and comfort. It was all she could do to ignore the pain in her back that made it hard to do anything but think about it. Despite that, she had fallen asleep and had surprisingly peaceful sleep.

No nightmares haunted her, no ghostly visions of a robot-blood covered Blitzwing.

The memories had come back as she’d woken up, but so did the memories of his tears.

It was odd to think a robot could cry, and to be fair, she’d never really imagined it before. Sadness, sure they could be sad, but to cry… it was almost too human. Despite that, it had moved her, regardless. If a robot, especially one as volatile and prone to anger, had cried and held her and had admitted to being scared that she’d hate him…

That was something odder than she’d ever even dreamed of. He’d cried and sobbed as he leaked whatever he leaked and it broke her heart. She wasn’t sure if that was a good thing or not, but he’d proven to be a better ally than an enemy… so maybe it was a good thing.

When the sounds of the repairs silenced and the other bots left with the final closing of the doors, and the only sound left was the quiet typing of Blitzwing’s console. She wiggled out of her cocoon and left her bed. She felt dirty and in need of a bath (moreso than she’d felt she needed in all her time there), but that was the one thing the cons hadn’t provided, damn them anyways.

She walked up to the glass and peeked out. He was intent on his work, his Blue face drawn into a thoughtful scowl as he continued to finish up what he was working on. He didn’t really seem to be in a mood to be bothered, so she walked back to her bed, fished out her puzzle box and sat down with it.

The rhythmic motions of twisting and clicking and sliding came back and it became a hypnotic and calming sort of thing. She felt her mind ease and the pain fade and she thought over her circumstances throughout the week. She’d gone from being terrified to mildly comfortable, back to being terrified, and now… and now, she wasn’t sure what she was. Her current situation didn’t bode too well for her, and she was certain that she wasn’t going to get out of this anytime soon…

With or without help.

She shifted a little when the typing sounds stopped and Blitzwing creaked as he stretched and walked over. In a moment, Blue popped up into her line of vision, that quiet, drawn face looking her over tiredly. “How are you doing today?” he asked.

Bobbie shifted. “Good, I suppose. My back hurts like nobody’s business, but it’s better than… what it could be, I guess?”

His expression changed, even his stoic face seemed to be concerned and he lowered himself a little, attempting to become even with her. “Does it hurt too much?”

“Not so long as I’m gentle with it.” She shifted a bit. “New clothes might help… this sweater isn’t exactly top notch-.”

“Next time I go out I vill bring you some,” he insisted. “I… von’t be good at finding zhings in your… ah… preferred measurements but I vill try.”

Bobbie smiled appreciatively. “Thanks. I mean, if you could-”

Before Bobbie could offer him her wishlist, the Detention doors opened, creaking with their first official use and a very angry, very flustered, and very dirty Knockout marched in. “I have had it with these humans running around! I have had it with them ruining my paintjob! And I have had it with this little brat _ruining_ my day!”

“And your paintjob,” Blitzwing offered dryly, that small, sly smirk curling his lips.

Knockout didn’t even acknowledge the comment before he marched over to him and shoved his fist in his chest. “Do what you want with it! I can’t kill her but I’ll give her to you to make her life terrible.”

“I think you do that already, hot stuff,” Bobbie hollered.

Knockout threw  her a murderous glare and dropped the contents of his fist in Blitzwing’s hand and then marched off, grumbling.

Laughter filled the room and it wasn’t from Blitzwing.

“Hahahha! Oh man you should have _seen his face!_ It was so good!”

Bobbie knew that voice and she rubbed her eyes. “Why are you here, Britt?” she demanded. “What are you doing?”

The blue haired girl popped up from above Blitzwing’s thumb and grinned. “I set up a trap and Knockout tripped and fell flat on his face!” She giggled wildly. “Ten outta ten wipeout!”

Bobbie met Blitzwing’s expression, which was just as unimpressed as hers, and he just shook his head and walked over to Bobbie’s cage. “Do you vant company?”

She shook her head enthusiastically. “Next door neighbor, please, I like what little privacy I have.”

Blitzwing obeyed without thought and opened the cage next to her and closed her in. “Hey! No way! C’mon I thought you liked humans!”

“I like her, not you,” Blitzwing said coldly. “She’s my favorite and you’re… stupid.”

“Oh that’s cold,” Bobbie commented.

“I am not stupid! I had it all set up so he couldn’t prove it was me! I was just laughing the hardest!”

“Grow about twenty feet and then you can laugh at Knockout,” Blitzwing advised with a rather impatient raising of his brow. “You’re too small to get away with it.”

“I mean, I did get away with it. I’m here! I bet this is the best place to be!”

Bobbie made no comment, and Blitzwing just met her eyes with a drawn, impatient, and twitchy sort of look. He wanted to lash out, but he was looking at her…

For permission?

For control?

For help?

Bobbie didn’t know why he was looking at her for assistance, because she had nothing to offer. All she really wanted was something to silence the new voice in the room that was once at least peaceful in a melancholy way.

This was torture.

“I vill go get you some clothes,” he said with a frown. “And maybe a blanket for zhe new one.”

“My name’s Britt!”

“I don’t care.”

He walked out, ignoring a few more comments thrown at him by the girl and left, leaving the room bigger and even less pleasant than it had been before.

Bobbie just groaned and fiddled with her puzzle box again.

“So, hey, what’s it like in here?”

Bobbie closed her eyes, her fingers tightening on the box before she inhaled deeply and a false smile spread. “It used to be peaceful, nice, and quiet where I could think.”

“Oh, that sounds really great, actually. Though white noise kinda helps a place not to feel so drab, you know? Like an air conditioner or a fan, or-”

“The quiet typing of a giant robot across the room.”

“Or that, yeah, sure. That’d be new to me, though.”

“I doubt you’ll ever bother to find out what it sounds like,” Bobbie rolled her eyes. She was getting impatient very quickly. Her social skills didn’t cover this sort of unfriendly ground with individuals who danced with death for the pleasure of it, or the adrenaline. She was the kind of kid she hated most, actually.

“What do you mean by that?”

“I mean you never _shut up_.”

“Well, he’s not here so I doubt I could hear him type even if he was typing somewhere.”

Bobbie groaned and grabbed her polar bear and stuffed her face in it. People. Human beings. Things that couldn’t learn when their company wasn’t wanted. Thickheaded idiots who did things just for the thrill of it-

“Look, kid. I’m in pain. I want to heal! I want to think about where I’ve gotten myself and where my frankly miserable life is going. I want to _not_ try to throttle you though a five foot thick metal wall, so how about you stop talking and we both just chill in the quiet and enjoy this little pleasant thicket of, I don’t know, not ruining my already _aching_ mood.”

“Oh… ok.”

 _Shit._ Bobbie rubbed her face at the tone she’d used, like she knew she’d done something wrong somehow and had completely messed something up. Bobbie knew that tone. She’d used it. She’d heard Renee use it. Hell, even Ted had! The kid had messed up, created a total train wreck of a social interaction, and Bobbie had reacted like a child. _She’s just a kid, you jackass. She’s probably hurting from her own pain, too!_ Bobbie just flattened herself on the stuffed animal and groaned into it.

_You freaking idiot._

“I’m sorry.”

Bobbie looked up and stared at the wall between her and the girl and she nodded, shaking her head. “… Don’t be. We’re both in a pretty shitty situation… Just, I guess I’m not wired to deal with positivity right now.”

“I can understand that.”

“Yeah… so, sorry I freaked out.”

“It’s ok.”

They slipped off into an uncomfortable silence, Bobbie still kicking herself. _Awesome job, Bobbie, babysitter of the year. Human being of the century. Winner of this year’s_ Idiot _award._

She certainly felt like an idiot.

 

At the same moment, Blitzwing was, too. He’d gone to the same building he’d ripped the top off of, just in time to find it’d been snowed all over. He groaned, Random taking over. _Of course I didn’t put the stupid roof back on. Dummkopf._

Hothead snorted. _That’s right, because that fixes things! I’ll just warm it up-_

 _If you do that you’ll burn everything in it and we actually want to get her clothing, not ashes,_ Icy pointed out.

Hothead just grumbled and Random was left alone to ponder what to do. He shifted through some of the racks, most of them looking rather sad and not at all what he would ever imagine Bobbie putting on her little cute frame. “None of zhis looks right,” he pouted, poking at a rack.

_Try a different section. This looks more like male’s clothing._

Random huffed a big puff of exhaust, indignant that he was right before he spotted the lace and pretty designs in another section.

He ignored the smug chuckles of his other components and shifted through them all, frowning. “Fine just help me look,” he growled.

Icy took over and carefully studied some of the clothing. There were very pretty flower designs he spotted and collected those, as well as other lacy garments. There was the necessity of pants, which Random took great care in choosing the best colors (one of each) and he pilfered through the hats as well. Hothead took up the rear and grabbed a fistful of coats and sweaters he thought were something she’d have no choice but at least use.

Hothead then sorted through the specific coats he thought would be best and tossed the others.

 _Awwwww, how cute!_ Random commented.

_Shut up, crooked mouth!_

_Please, it is a necessary thing. We could do the same with all of them-_

_Or! Or Bobbie could!_ Random offered.

The others agreed and continued to pick and choose what they thought she would like.

None of them seemed to notice how they, for once, were working together instead of separately. For the first time in a long, long time, Blitzwing’s personalities weren’t warring for control or fighting and bickering over who was better than the other. He was, for lack of a better description, stable.

Which was would have been unheard of just a solar cycle before.


End file.
